The Saiyan Contamination
by MegaBob452
Summary: After defeating Frieza and escaping an exploding planet, Goku was lost in space. He crash lands on an Earth similar yet different to his home, where commanding the elements is commonplace. Wandering the new world Goku meets its heroes and villains, changing the course of the Hundred Year War.
1. The Man in the Sphere

_A/N: Just to clarify, this crossover starts right at the end of the Frieza Saga and at the beginning of ATLA's Book 2, during the time that Goku is believed to be dead but is actually on Yardrat learning Instant Transmission. Just replace Yardrat with ATLA's Earth and you get the premise of this story._

Chapter 1: The Man in the Sphere

Chief Arnook was mourning the passing of his daughter Yue, who gave up her life to restore the Moon Spirit. The Northern Water Tribe city was slowly being rebuilt after the Fire Nation invasion, waterbenders reshaping the ice back into the frozen structures the people lived in. Work was slow, as many waterbenders had left the North Pole with Master Pakku to assist their sister tribe in the south, escorting Avatar Aang to the Earth Kingdom along the way.

Alone and missing his daughter's voice, Arnook stood in the Spirit Oasis between the ice palace and the glaciers beyond the city. Looking at the twin Koi fish swimming in the pond Arnook wondered if Yue could see him there. The fish didn't notice Arnook, content to continue the endless dance in the water. Arnook was about to return to his duties as Chief of the Tribe when he heard a loud screeching noise above.

Suddenly a metal sphere fell out of the sky at an angle and impacted the glacier wall, leaving a crater in the ice before falling straight down into the oasis. The sphere was slightly larger than a person, with a red window and a symbol that combined a yellow circle with a silver arrowhead and a blue triangle on top. The red window shattered into shards of glass, and a hatch holding the window and symbol opened above the shallow water around the oasis.

Inside an unconscious adult tumbled out of the sphere, barely clothed with tattered orange pants held up with a blue belt, and he wore black boots and blue wristbands. Cuts and bruises marked every exposed bit of light skin, while his black hair seemed to go in every possible direction. Tumbling into the shallow water, the strange man's blood bled into the clear oasis.

"Healer!" Arnook yelled as loud as he could.

Almost immediately the closest people arrived at the oasis, pulling the strange man out of the water. They carried him to Healer Yugoda's home, which was just outside the oasis's entrance. A dozen other healers were brought to Yugoda's home to assist her, as the stranger's injuries were too numerous for her to heal on her own. They laid him down on a clear bed and used waterbending to heal, covering nearly his entire body with glowing water from a dozen benders.

When the healers were finished the strange man slowly opened his eyes. "I'm alive?" he muttered, not certain if what he felt was real.

"Yes," Yugoda answered.

Arnook stepped towards the man as the healers stepped back. "Stranger, what is your name?"

"Goku," he answered, sitting up and checking his body for wounds. "Strange, I don't remember having any senzu beans left."

"Actually, we healed you," Yugoda corrected.

"Oh," Goku said. He was about to ask where he was, but instead his stomach growled loud enough for everyone to hear it. "Do you have any food?"

Despite being against his better judgment, Arnook felt he had to honor the hospitality the tribe was supposed to give lost travelers. "Of course," Arnook said, and ordered people outside to bring a meal to Yugoda's home. Within minutes a meal big enough for everyone inside arrive, and only a minute later did Arnook regret being hospitable. Though the portions for everyone had been generous, Arnook only had a few bites before Goku consumed nearly all of the food meant for everyone to share.

"More please," Goku asked, finishing off an entire platter of sea prunes.

Another full meal arrived and disappeared inside Goku's seemingly bottomless stomach. A third and fourth helping barely slowed down Goku's stuffing of his mouth, practically inhaling the food and making Arnook wonder where he could possibly be putting all of it. On the fifth helping there was little sign that Goku was full, but Arnook's generosity stopped there.

"I think that's enough," Arnook insisted, seeing a pile of dishes being carried outside.

"It was good," Goku complimented, swallowing the last of the otter-seal steak. He belched and patted his belly. "Thanks for the food."

"You're welcome," Arnook said. "Tell me, Goku, why did you come to the Northern Water Tribe?"

"Never heard of it," Goku admitted.

Arnook raised one eyebrow at that. "Does Fire Nation ring a bell?"

"Nope," Goku said.

"Earth Kingdom? Air Nomads?" Arnook asked.

"I don't even know what planet this is," Goku said. "How am I supposed to know the local countries?"

"Interesting," Arnook said. Until just a few hours ago he thought that the idea of other planets was ridiculous, but Goku's very existence was evidence to the contrary. "What planet did you come from?"

"Well I was on Namek, until Frieza blew it up," Goku answered. "I almost didn't make it off in time to escape." A memory of taking an alien spacecraft sparked a question. "Hey where is that ship I used?"

"Not far," Arnook answered. "But please put some proper clothes on."

Goku looked down, noting that it was a little cold without a shirt on. "Okay," Goku said. One of Arnook's men brought a set of clothes for Goku, a blue shirt and coat with matching blue pants. Goku tossed the coat aside and just put on the shirt and pants, while keeping his own black boots, blue wristbands, and blue belt.

When Goku was fully dressed Arnook took him to the Spirit Oasis, where the sphere that had contained Goku still laid half submerged in water. Goku picked up a large shard of red glass from the windshield, which shattered with little force. "Aw man, it's wrecked," Goku complained. "How am I going to get home now?"

_Good question, _Arnook wondered, not wanting Goku to remain in the tribe and consume the entire food supply. "Can you repair it?" Arnook asked.

"Bulma could, but she's not here," Goku answered. The thought of one of his earliest friends relieved any worry Goku had of being stranded on an alien world. "Oh well, I'm sure she'll just gather the dragonballs and wish me back, sooner or later."

"Wish?" Arnook questioned.

"You must not have dragonballs here," Goku guessed.

"I'm going to ignore that," Arnook stated, disgusted by the idea of gathering dragons' balls.

Goku's belly rumbled again, as the five course meal had not been enough for him. "Is there anything else to eat around here?"

"Perhaps if you come on our next hunting or fishing expedition, you can help catch as much food as you need," Arnook suggested.

"Fishing sounds good," Goku said.

Arnook was about to lead Goku to the harbor and a ship when he saw Goku clench his fists and bend his knees. Out of nowhere a white aura burst from his body, and Goku jumped high in the air, nearly disappearing in the blue sky above. Arnook saw a white streak move across the sky towards the sea, stopping beyond the ice wall protecting the tribe. He could only wonder what kind of power allowed someone to fly.

Goku floated over the sea for a few moments, getting his bearings in the unfamiliar world. Then he dived into the water outside the ice wall, plunging into the cold depths. Sensing the energy of the local sea life Goku swam for the biggest one he could find, a giant squid-whale seventy feet long and feeding on krill-plankton. He grabbed the beast by a tentacle and hauled it up to the surface, bursting out of the water and carrying the squid-whale over the ice wall.

Only a few minutes after he left Goku returned to the Spirit Oasis with his catch, dropping it between the oasis and the palace. "Is this big enough?" Goku asked as he hovered over the oasis.

Staring at the squid-whale Arnook was thankful that he was on Goku's good side. Only Avatar Kuruk had ever caught an adult squid-whale before, but not alive. The animal had enough meat to sustain the tribe for over a year, and its bones could be carved into enough weapons to arm every man woman and child. "Yes Goku, this is big enough."

Slowly Goku descended and landed next to his catch. With his bare hands Goku ripped off a slab of flesh as big as he was, still warm and steaming in the cold air. He tossed the meat into the air and aimed one palm at it, shooting a white beam of energy. The energy covered and penetrated the meat, cooking it to a healthy golden brown before letting the meat fall to the ground.

Tearing off a hand sized piece of cooked meat Goku ate it whole. "Needs seasoning," Goku commented, before tearing off more meat to continue eating.

Arnook watched Goku eat the entire slab of meat one handful at a time, having so many questions about what Goku could do. Strange forms of air and firebending had been displayed, and Arnook inferred that a strange form of waterbending had to be used to catch the squid-whale. But the strength needed to tear the fish apart wasn't covered by any bending art, and even the strongest Earth Kingdom men would need tools to carve into flesh. It was far more than enough evidence to convince Arnook that Goku was truthful about coming from another planet, and could be a valuable ally.

"Would you like to stay the night?" Arnook offered, wanting to get Goku comfortable in the tribe and establish good relations.

Goku finished eating the cooked meat and belched before responding. "Thanks, but I think I'll explore this world for a while. See the sights while I'm here. Maybe get some training done."

"Well if you need a home, there can be one here," Arnook said.

"Okay," Goku said. "Later."

Arnook watched Goku generate the white aura again and take off into the air, flying away from the Northern Water Tribe. He could only pray that Goku would sympathize with the Earth Kingdom and fight on their side in the war. Or at least be neutral in the conflict to keep his power out of Fire Nation hands.

But as Goku flew away to the south he was blissfully unaware of any evil on this world, only wondering what new martial arts it had to offer.


	2. A Royal Pain

Chapter 2: A Royal Pain

Princess Azula was walking back to her ship docked on the northern coast of the Earth Kingdom, heading back from a visit to her brother and uncle. She had just told them that her father wanted Zuko back home, though it was just a pretense to lock up Iroh and keep him from interfering with the war effort again. Azula knew that her brother suspected the lie, but was sure that his desire to return home would overrule caution.

At sundown Azula arrived at the ship, walking up the portside metal ramp to get on deck. Sitting in front of the ship's cabin were Lo and Li, two old crones that Azula wanted to throw overboard at the first opportunity. They had been sent with Azula to oversee the completion of her training in lightning bending, a skill that every royal heir needed to possess. But Azula could never understand how two nonbenders could possibly understand one of the rarest forms of firebending, let alone teach it to others.

Without a word Azula assumed the stance for the technique, extending just two fingers on each hand. She moved her arms in the circular patterns that charged a bolt of lightning, energy crackling at her fingertips. Once she had the bolt charged Azula thrust one hand towards the sea, firing the lightning from her fingertips into the water. Her technique was nearly perfect, except for one strand of hair that came out of Azula's topknot.

The two old crones were about to mention the loose strand of hair when the water erupted, right where Azula's lightning had struck. "What in the world?" both crones said at once.

Coming out of the water was Goku, one hand clenched on the tail of a dolphin-shark. Rising into the air with his catch Goku's hair was sticking out in even more directions than usual, statically charged by the electricity in the water. The dolphin-shark was twitching as some electricity still shocked it, dying and slightly cooked.

"Hey!" Goku complained as he hovered above the water. He had been minding his own business underwater fishing for his dinner, when out of nowhere lightning struck the water next to him. Without his guard up the electricity had shocked him, but left no noticeable damage. "What was that for?" he yelled.

Azula stared at the man hovering in the air, dressed in Water Tribe clothing. Though his black hair and light skin suggested that he was Fire Nation, his muscular physique suggested an Earth Kingdom upbringing. Azula had no idea how he could hover in the air without wind or flame holding him up, even as he drifted towards the ship.

"Sir… we didn't know you were there," Azula answered.

Goku set foot on the deck of Azula's ship and dropped his dolphin-shark. He rifled his fingers through his hair to get rid of the static charge, returning his hair to its normal spiky style. "It's nothing a good meal won't fix," Goku said.

"Um, okay?" Azula muttered, gesturing to the door of the ship's cabin. "By the way, what is your name?"

"Goku," he answered. "And yours?"

"Azula."

One of Azula's servants took the dolphin-shark that Goku had caught and brought it into the ship's galley. The ship's cook stripped the fish of its meat and prepared a meal of sushi, enough to feed the entire crew. Servants carried platters stacked with sushi to Azula's personal dining quarters, where she invited Goku to dine. Azula wanted to impress Goku with a meal fit for a lord, hoping to convince him to divulge the secret of his ability to fly.

Instead Azula witnessed Goku practically inhale every last piece of sushi, and she looked on in disgust as Goku belched when he was finished. "That was great," Goku complimented. "It is so much better than trying to cook myself."

"I'll take your word for it," Azula said. She glanced out a porthole window, seeing the moon rising in the night sky. "It's getting late, I can have a room prepared for you."

"Thanks," Goku said, getting up and straightening his shirt. "I don't suppose anyone here has spare clothes that fit me? Blue isn't really my color."

"Of course," Azula said, glad to learn that Goku wasn't aligned with the Water Tribe. "Right this way."

Azula walked through a door into the hallway and found the nearest servant, giving the order to have the best crew quarters reassigned to the new guest. She ordered another servant to find Fire Nation clothing that would fit Goku and stock the assigned room with it. There was one crewman aboard that had the same frame as Goku, who donated his spare clothing at Azula's request.

In the assigned quarters Goku slept through the night in a bed, the first one he'd been in since his Capsule Corp spaceship on the way to Namek. The next morning Goku checked a closet for new clothes, finding red shirts and pants inside. He exchanged his blue pants for the red ones, and wore one of the red shirts on top of his blue shirt. Keeping his old blue wristbands, blue belt, and black boots, Goku's new outfit resembled his regular uniform.

"Well it's not orange, but it's close enough," Goku muttered to himself. He walked out of the quarters and through the ship, heading up some stairs to reach the deck.

But on the last flight of steps there were a pair of soldiers in the way. "Sir, please remain down below. There's a delicate situation up there."

Having no idea what the guards were referring to, Goku was only more curious about what they were trying to hide. He glanced towards the portside of the ship, sensing the presence of new energy. "Some new guests hardly seem delicate."

"How could you know…?"

Not wanting to explain how he could sense the energies of people around him, Goku instead pushed the soldiers out of his way and continued up the steps. Emerging on deck near the ship's cabin Goku saw Azula standing at the top of a metal ramp that was connected to a pier, and she was looking down at her brother and uncle walking in between two lines of soldiers standing at attention.

Azula didn't notice Goku standing on the deck, focusing on the task at hand. "Brother, Uncle, welcome. I'm so glad that you decided to come."

While Zuko and Iroh bowed in respect, the rows of soldiers lined up behind them. The ship's captain stood at the base of the ramp, facing Azula. "Are we ready to depart, your highness?"

"Set a course for home, captain," Azula ordered.

"You heard the princess, raise the anchor," the captain ordered the crew. "We're taking the prisoners home."

The captain realized his mistake too late, having given away Azula's deception. Before he could apologize or make any excuses the captain heard Iroh starting to fight off the soldiers behind him. Zuko grabbed the captain and threw him overboard, leaving nothing between him and Azula. And all the while Goku observed, wondering whose side he should be on or whether he should even get involved.

"You lied to me!" Zuko yelled, walking up the ramp to face his sister.

"Like I've never done that before," Azula admitted.

In spite of not knowing who Zuko was, Goku felt sympathy for him. The large burn scar over Zuko's eye implied a rough life, and that he had already suffered enough. Goku wanted to give him a fair chance at escaping Azula's trap, and he had the perfect technique to accomplish that goal. He jumped into the air above the ship, drawing attention with the great height of his jump and not coming back down.

"Up here!" Goku yelled, drawing even more attention from the soldiers below. When enough of the soldiers had taken a slight glance upward Goku held his hands beside his face, his palms facing his ears while he closed his eyes. "Solar Flare!"

Blinding light erupted from Goku's face, outshining even the sun in the sky. Anyone looking directly at it was instantly blinded, and even those looking away still had to shield their eyes. But Zuko's left eye was weakened by the scar around it, and it was less affected by the light than his good eye. The left eye could see the position Goku held his hands, and Zuko could feel that image being burned into his mind.

When the light vanished Goku hovered above the ship and watched chaos spread down below. Crewmen and soldiers were throwing fire around blindly, hitting each other more often than Zuko or Iroh. Azula created a wall of blue fire around herself, shielding herself from stray fire until her vision could recover. Zuko stumbled half blind across the pier to get away from the ship, grabbing Iroh's arm and pulling him along.

When Azula's vision recovered enough to see blurred images she extinguished her wall of blue fire, finding Zuko and Iroh long gone. She looked up and saw Goku hovering above her, unaffected by the light he had generated. Furious that Goku had betrayed her, Azula started making the circular arm motions to charge lightning. She fired the lightning straight up, aiming to shoot Goku out of the sky.

Right before the lightning could hit the target Goku swung his left arm in the path of the attack, hitting the lightning with the back of his hand. The strike deflected the lightning off its course, arcing harmlessly into the water. Goku waved with his left hand, showing that he had suffered no harm. With nothing left to do nearby Goku generated a white aura and flew off at high speed, not caring that Azula was cursing his name behind him.


	3. Wandering Warriors

_A/N: To anyone wondering why I won't be pairing Goku with anyone in this story, one reason is that nearly all of the named girls in Avatar are far too young for him. There's no way I'm pairing the twenty-something Goku with teenagers. Another reason is that I'm treating the DBZ side of the story as including everything the anime did up to Namek blowing up, including Goku's marriage to Chi-Chi and having a son. The final reason is that I'm terrible at writing romance._

Chapter 3: Wandering Warriors

A few weeks of exploring the Earth Kingdom made Goku wish that he knew how to repair the spacecraft that got him to this planet, as he was getting bored wandering around aimlessly. Nearly everyone that saw him flying was amazed by the feat, and it was getting annoying that something so trivial impressed the locals every time. After the third village Goku visited he started landing outside civilization and walking the rest of the way, just so that he could attempt to blend in with the populace.

On a lonely stroll down a trail near some mountains Goku came across a merchant pulling a cart filled with produce. There was a village at the base of one mountain within view, which was the merchant's destination. But coming from the village were five komodo-rhinos each bearing one Fire Nation person, though each rider carried a different kind of weapon. Far behind the komodo-rhinos were a group of girls in green armor, who were chasing the riders out of the village. The beasts were running down the trail straight at the merchant, not slowing down with the cart in their way.

"Not My Cabbages!"

Before the rhinos could ram and demolish the cart in their way Goku ran to intercept, getting between the lead animal and the cart. He grabbed the komodo-rhino's horns and planted his feet into the ground, forcing the animal to halt. The other beasts crashed into the first, all coming to a stop just a few feet from the cart. Every rider fell off the komodo-rhinos and tumbled onto the ground around the merchant, each cursing as they got onto their feet.

The firebender leader Monke saw Goku holding onto the horns of his komodo-rhino, still keeping it in place. "You're going to pay for that!" Monke threatened, about to firebend at Goku. Monke could see the four other members of the Rough Rhinos readying their weapons, a bow, chains, a halberd, and a bomb.

"Cash or coin?" Goku asked, letting go of the animal.

Monke punched a fireball at Goku, which he dodged by leaning backward enough to avoid it. Instead the fireball hit the armored rider with the bomb behind Goku, setting off the explosive. The blast from the bomb threw the armored rider back, out of the fight. The archer in the group shot a flaming arrow, which Goku plucked out of the air and threw it back with enough precision to cut the bow's string in two. The rider with the halberd charged in and swung his weapon at Goku's head, but Goku stepped out of the way and shoved him into the other armed rider.

More fireballs were thrown at Goku, despite all of Monke's men being out of the fight. "Seriously?" Goku questioned as he easily dodged the flames. In an instant Goku closed the distance between him and Monke, then tossed Monke into his komono-rhino. "Now leave this guy alone," Goku insisted, gesturing to the merchant.

The Rough Rhinos all grumbled and got back on their animals, steering them off the trail and far around the cart. As they left the merchant let out a sigh of relief, for once not having to deal with his produce being destroyed in one form or another. "You saved my cabbages," he said, bowing deeply to Goku.

"It was nothing," Goku said. He looked back towards the village, seeing a dozen girls in green uniforms that had been pursuing the Rough Rhinos before Goku got involved. "Who are those people?" Goku asked, finding their white face paint reminding him Chiaotzu.

The girls in uniform slowed their pace as they approached Goku, unable to tell if he was a friend or a foe. The red haired leader walked ahead of the rest, stopping in front of Goku. "Did you know who those were?" she asked.

"Nope," Goku admitted. "I just felt like helping this guy out."

"And no other reason?" she asked.

Goku shrugged. "Also seemed like the right thing to do."

Finding the reasoning out of character for anyone of the Fire Nation, the girl believed that Goku wasn't aligned with that nation. "Well thanks," she said. Then she gestured to herself and the uniformed girls behind her. "I'm Suki, and we're the Kyoshi Warriors."

"I'm Goku," he introduced himself. He waved to Suki and turned to walk around the warriors to continue on his way. "Nice meeting you."

"Wait," Suki interrupted. She gestured towards the village, where a group of twenty refugees were waiting for the Kyoshi Warriors to return. "We're going to escort those people through the mountains, and we could use another pair of hands."

"Okay," Goku said, thinking that he had nothing better to do with his time.

The Kyoshi Warriors escorted the merchant to the village before returning to the refugees. The people picked up what few belongings they had and started their journey across the Earth Kingdom. Goku walked beside the warriors along the dirt road, heading towards the mountains to the east. The refugees talked about a hidden harbor on the other side of the mountains, one that had ferries to take them to the Earth Kingdom capital.

Along the way Goku would slip away unnoticed once a day to gather food, hunting down several tiger-turkeys or fishing dozens of salmon-trout at a time. He gathered enough food to provide for everyone, in spite of his own appetite. While Goku would be hunting or fishing the refugees ran into bandits every other day, all fought off by the Kyoshi Warriors.

A week into the journey they reached the mountains, walking into a pass that led in between two steep cliffs. Halfway through it there were three large Earth Kingdom men, each wielding a pair of war hammers. "Halt!" one in the middle demanded. "Pay the toll, or turn back."

Suki stepped ahead with the other warriors next to her, not afraid of bandits blocking the narrow pass. "Don't be stupid, there's far more of us than there are of you."

One bandit on the left swung both of his hammers into the cliff wall beside him, earthbending a shockwave through the rock. Behind the bandits a boulder dislodged from the cliff and fell into the pass, blocking the way ahead past the bandits. "Pay the toll, and we'll let you pass."

Suki drew her war fans, which prompted the other warriors to do the same. "Open the pass, or we clobber you."

"Crush them," the middle bandit ordered, hating people that resisted paying the toll.

The bandit on the right swung both hammers into the wall on his side, earthbending another shockwave that dislodged another boulder. This time it came out of the wall high above the warriors and refugees, threatening to crush them. Immediately the refugees started running back the way they came, while the warriors helped stragglers in the few seconds they had. But one person didn't even flinch as the boulder's shadow covered him.

"Goku! Get out of the way!" Suki shouted.

Instead Goku simply raised one hand and held his palm towards the falling boulder. He fired a weak beam of energy from the hand at the boulder, which exploded on contact and destroyed the boulder. Small bits of rubble from the demolished boulder rained down, harmless to the people in the pass. Then Goku aimed his hand at the other boulder blocking the pass, firing another beam past the bandits and blowing up the boulder in the way.

"Way's clear," Goku said.

The bandits screamed and ran for the far end of the pass, too scared to fight someone that could blow stuff up with his hands. Meanwhile the refugees all stared at Goku, while the Kyoshi Warriors wondered what strange form of bending Goku had used. The closest thing they could identify it to was firebending, but it was nothing like the firebending they had seen before.

"What was that?" Suki asked.

"Nothing much, just a basic energy attack," Goku said. "My son could have blocked it."

"Well none of us are him," Suki said, crossing her arms. "How did you do that?"

"Easy," Goku said, holding up his hand. "Just focus your energy into your hand and release it outward." He fired another beam into the sky to demonstrate. "It's really simple, anyone can do it."

"Focus my energy?" Suki muttered, holding up one hand. "How?"

Goku sighed and put a hand to his forehead. "This is going to be a long lesson."

While Goku explained the nature of energy manipulation the refugees and warriors resumed the journey through the pass. Within the hour everyone knew about what Goku could do, most keeping their distance to avoid getting on his bad side. On the next day they exited on the eastern end of the pass, close to their destination.

The group made camp a mile from the hidden harbor, where Goku finished teaching Suki how to manipulate her own energy. "Try it now," Goku instructed, gesturing to a nearby forest.

"Okay…" Suki muttered. She held up one hand with the palm aimed at a tree. Suki sighed and focused like she had been instructed, feeling a little lightheaded while her hand felt hot. Then she focused her energy outward, surprising herself when she saw a small ball of light shoot out of her hand. The ball hit a tree and exploded, blasting away the bark and leaving the wood scorched. "I did it!"

"A decent start," Goku commented. "Train hard and that will knock down the whole tree, and several more behind it.

"Not that I would want to do that," Suki said.

"Yeah save it for the bad guys, like those bandits," Goku suggested. Feeling like he wasn't needed there anymore, Goku jumped into the air and slowly flew upward. "See you around," he said with a wave, before flying off.

Suki stared as Goku flew off, silently wondering if she could do that too with enough practice. The other warriors were also staring at him, until Goku disappeared behind the southern horizon. Then the warriors all turned towards Suki, all of them thinking the same thoughts. Suki could tell that they also wanted to learn how to shoot energy, and she was all too eager to share that knowledge.


	4. Senses

Chapter 4: Senses

On one ordinary day Goku walked into a city on the Earth Kingdom's southern coast, looking for something new to pass the time. A sign on his way in labeled the city Gaoling, which didn't mean much to him. Walking through the streets of Gaoling he passed by a school for earthbending, and Goku stopped for a few minutes to observe the martial arts style used to command the ground. Watching the lessons quickly bored Goku, as he could easily fake it with his strength and energy.

Nearby Goku saw a poster on the side of a building, describing an event called Earth Rumble Six. "A tournament," Goku muttered, reading the poster to see where it was being held. He tore off the poster and followed the directions, heading out of Gaoling to a nearby mountain. Goku wanted to see how the locals compared to his own skills, wondering if there were any fighters on a level similar to his own.

At the base of the mountain was the entrance to the arena, and there was a signup station just inside. A tall man with bulging muscles was behind a counter, dismissing people he believed were too weak to compete. "Who are you?" he asked when Goku walked up to the counter.

"I'm Goku, and I want to fight."

"Alright, show me what you can do."

Goku lifted one foot and stomped on the ground, using enough strength to shake the entire mountain. Then he clenched his fists and concentrated, mentally spreading his energy into the rocks nearby. Several person sized boulders lifted out of the ground, telekinetically floating in fake earthbending. Then Goku relaxed his energy and the boulders crashed back down to the ground.

"Is that good? Or do you want more?" Goku asked.

The muscular man was staring at Goku, impressed by the sheer volume of rock that had been controlled at once. "No, you're more than qualified," he answered. He picked up a quill and dipped it in ink to write on a registration form. "I just need a fighting name, something dramatic."

Placing his hand on his chin Goku thought about what name to use, as it hadn't been necessary in the tournaments back home. Only one spectacular name came to mind, something that Vegeta never stopped talking about back on Namek. "How about, The Super Saiyan?"

"Perfect," the muscular man said, writing it down. "Your first match starts in half an hour."

Half an hour later Goku was standing outside of a ring beneath the mountain, which had many stone ledges around it for seats. The announcer Xin Fu had just explained the rules for the audience, which was that only a ring out was necessary to win a match. Xin Fu only stayed in the ring long enough to introduce the first two combatants.

"Tonight we have two new challengers. Introducing The Boulder and The Super Saiyan!"

Both combatants entered the ring at the same time from opposite sides, and the Boulder was amused by Goku disregarding tradition by keeping his shirt on. "Listen up Saiyan, The Boulder is going to win this in a landslide."

The Boulder stomped a foot on the ground to bend some rocks out, then flung them at Goku. With a swing of his arm Goku broke apart the thrown rocks. Goku punched the ground with enough force to shake the ring, then tore out a chunk of rock ten times his size and threw it at the Boulder. The Boulder broke the chunk in half with earthbending, letting each half fall beside him. Then the Boulder started earthbending the ground beneath Goku's feet, lifting up the rock with him Goku on it and throwing him towards the audience. Right before a ring out Goku jumped off the moving rock, getting above the ring and descending towards the Boulder. He landed next to the Boulder and used a very light punch on him, which sent the Boulder flying out of the ring and slamming into a wall.

"The winner is, the Super Saiyan!"

Unknown to Goku, there were a pair of Water Tribe siblings and a bald kid in the audience. The Water Tribe boy in the stands was cheering for Goku, having an appreciation for violent sports. The boy's sister suggested that they find Goku after the tournament and ask him to teach the bald kid, not realizing that Goku was faking earthbending. The bald kid didn't like the idea, mentioning that his crazy old friend wanted him to learn from someone that listens to the earth.

"Next match: the Super Saiyan versus The Hippo!"

A tall fat man was Goku's opponent, rather dimwitted compared to the previous earthbender. The Hippo tried to tip the ring back and forth with earthbending, attempting to break Goku's footing. Instead Goku ripped a chunk of rock from the ring and propelled it with his energy, hurling it faster than the Hippo could react. The rock hit the Hippo's fat belly and knocked him out of the ring."

"…versus Fire Nation Man!"

The crowd booed as a man with thick sideburns and a red cape walked into the ring, carrying a Fire Nation flag. Goku didn't know why the guy was hated so much, but was amused by the crowd throwing rocks at him. Not even bothering with fake earthbending this time, Goku decided to make the match merciful by shoving Fire Nation Man hard enough to toss him out of the ring.

Several more matches followed, though they seemed very similar to Goku. There was one earthbender that fought by tunneling beneath the ring, which Goku beat by pulling him out of the ground and throwing him out. Then came a skinny guy with a mask, beaten by a kick that smashed through the corner of the ring. A wild man followed, whom Goku threw a rock that pinned him to the wall outside the ring.

"Now, the moment you've all been waiting for! The Super Saiyan versus, your champion, the Blind Bandit!"

A little girl holding up the championship belt entered the arena, and then handed the belt to a stage hand for safekeeping. Goku found himself wondering how to win without hurting her, even when keeping his power to a minimum. "Is there some kind of mistake here?" Goku asked.

"Scared?" the Blind Bandit asked.

"Not at all," Goku answered.

"Then come at me," The Blind Bandit said.

"You asked for it," Goku said, holding up one hand and aiming his palm at the ground in front of his opponent. He channeled energy from his hand into the ring, breaking apart the flat surface into hundreds of small chunks that flew at the Blind Bandit.

The Bandit avoided the attack by burying herself with earthbending, letting the flying rock soar overhead. She emerged behind Goku and sank the ground he stood under, trying to bury him beneath the ring. She noticed Goku jumping off the moving ground, and then he vanished to her. Goku had leaped high above the ring and was taking his time to land, and the Blind Bandit couldn't tell where he was in the air.

"Where did you go!" the Blind Bandit demanded. Then she felt Goku landing nearby. "There you are!" She pulled out a chunk of rock her own size and threw it at Goku, but was surprised to notice him catching it in one hand.

"Okay, you're better than you look," Goku commented, dropping the chunk of rock. He jumped above the ring again, nearly reaching the high ceiling before coming back down behind his opponent. Goku was going to punch the ring hard enough to shatter it, but on his way down he noticed his opponent still facing the spot he used to be. Curious about his opponent, Goku stopped his attack at the last second and hovered just a few inches above the ring. To the audience it appeared that Goku was standing on the ground, but the Blind Bandit still didn't notice him.

"Are you coming back down or not?"

"I'm right here," Goku answered, hovering right behind the Blind Bandit and startling her.

After a short scream the Blind Bandit turned around and earthbended a wave of rock, trying to hit a target she couldn't see. The wave hit Goku and broke around him, giving the Blind Bandit a clear view of Goku for the few seconds he was in contact with rock. After the wave passed the Blind Bandit couldn't see him again, as Goku was hovering inches above the floor.

"How are you doing that?" the Blind Bandit demanded.

"You can't see things in the air," Goku observed.

"Finally someone figured that out," the Blind Bandit said, bending another earth wave.

Goku kicked off the ring and jumped over the earth wave, then landed behind the Blind Bandit. "Have you tried sensing for my energy? That would solve your problem."

"Yeah right," the Blind Bandit said, thinking that her opponent was crazy. She buried herself beneath the ring, and then five hollow pillars sprouted and spun around Goku. "If that's real, then try to find me!"

The audience wondered which of the five pillars the Blind Bandit was inside, but Goku didn't bother checking any of them. Instead Goku punched the floor and ripped out a large chunk of the ring, then smashed it against the floor. The moving pillars stopped as the Blind Bandit fell out of the broken rock, tumbling close to the edge.

"Okay… there might be something to that sensing energy thing," the Blind Bandit muttered, getting back onto her feet. "I'll have to work on that after I beat you."

"Well this should get you started," Goku said, clenching his fists and spreading his feet apart. Goku started powering up with a white aura, his energy generating wind outward and pushing down the floor beneath him. In under a second he turned the entire ring into a crater, startling the audience while the Blind Bandit slid down the crater's steep side. She slid towards Goku at the bottom of the crater, where he lightly flicked his fingers with enough force to propel the Blind Bandit out of the ring.

The Blind Bandit crashed into the stands, right next to the Water Tribe siblings and the bald kid. They didn't notice her there at first, too busy staring at Goku's display of power. The audience was silent as Goku took the championship belt and prize money from Xin Fu, himself too shocked to properly announce the winner. Only when Goku peacefully left the arena did anyone in the audience speak again.

When the Blind Bandit started to recover the bald kid asked her a question. "Hey, would you mind teaching me earthbending?"

Rubbing her head to sooth a headache, the Blind Bandit wondered if teaching might repair her damaged pride. "Sure, why not?"


	5. One Man's Treasure

Chapter 5: One Man's Treasure

On a whim Goku traveled to the edge of a desert in the central Earth Kingdom, having overheard people talking about an oasis that everyone needed to visit. It turned out to be a tourist trap, as the ice spring in the middle of the oasis was almost completely melted away. The locals all stared at Goku's strange choice of clothing, mostly red with some blue and the green Earth Rumble championship belt. The mix of colors confused the locals, uncertain which nation he came from but not saying anything about it.

A bar was the only place worth visiting in the oasis, which Goku decided to enter. He saw someone order a fruity drink, and he watched the bartender use swords to chop up the ingredients and mix the drink in a bowl of ice. "One of those, please," Goku asked, tossing a gold coin from his Earth Rumble prize money.

The bartender made another fruity drink and passed it to Goku. In just a few minutes the bartender had to make a dozen more drinks for Goku, and started to run low on ingredients. It was still the bar's most profitable day ever, as Goku didn't know the real value of his coins and overpaid for each drink. Goku was almost finished when he noticed someone else entering the bar, who was sunburned in spite of wearing proper desert clothing.

"Hello there," the stranger said, walking up to the bartender. "One drink please."

"Coming up," the bartender said, making another fruity drink in less than half a minute. "The last one we have today."

"Thank you," the stranger said. He sat down on a barstool and slowly enjoyed his drink.

"You really should stop nearly dying in the desert," the bartender suggested. "You're wasting your time looking for that library."

"I have to find it," the stranger insisted. "Discovering Wan Shi Tong's lost library would be the greatest achievement anyone can make. And I know it's out there somewhere."

Uninterested in a library, Goku walked away from the stranger and headed outside. In the desert heat Goku took his time leaving the oasis, walking into the desert sands. Once the oasis was out of sight Goku jumped into the air, planning to fly across the desert and explore the lands beyond it. But along the way Goku sensed a strange presence beneath the sands, and he stopped in midair to focus on it.

"What is that?" Goku muttered, hovering above the desert and looking down. He was right above the source of the presence he sensed, and directly below him was a tower sticking out of the sand. Goku descended and landed on top of the tower, wondering why it was there. He peered over the edge and saw large windows, while a strange fox climbed up the side and entered through one of the windows.

Goku walked off the tower's roof and floated down to the window, drifting through it and finding a much larger structure down below. He slowly dropped through the open space and landed on one of many stone bridges spanning the large building. At both ends Goku saw rows of bookshelves, but didn't care about any of them.

"Hello? I know someone's in here!" Goku yelled.

"**You should not have come,"** a new voice answered. From one end of the bridge a giant owl walked towards Goku. **"You should leave, the way you came."**

Realizing that the owl was the being he had sensed, Goku looked up into the bird's eyes. "Who are you?"

"**I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things."**

"Neat," Goku commented. "What is this place?"

"**This is my library,"** Wan Shi Tong answered. **"And humans are no longer welcome here."**

"Well I'm not human, so no problem right?" Goku reasoned.

"**Appearances say otherwise."**

"I know, but I'm really a Saiyan," Goku answered. "So can I wander around here for a while?

"**Only if you can provide some worthwhile knowledge for the library,"** Wan Shi Tong demanded, doubting that Goku had anything worthwhile.

Goku patted each part of his body to check for anything written down, finding nothing of value to the owl. "I got nothing," Goku muttered, but then an idea struck him. "How about I show off some fighting styles?"

"**I have studied every fighting style in this world, so there is nothing you can show that I don't already know."**

"Except that my fighting style isn't from this world," Goku reasoned.

The owl took a moment before responding, thinking about Goku's suggestion. **"Very well,"** Wan Shi Tong said. **"We shall spar, and I will assume a more appropriate form."**

Wan Shi Tong spread his wings and covered the entire front of his body. Then he started to shrink, reducing to a size slightly larger than Goku. The wings retracted and turned into a feathery cloak, revealing a vaguely human shaped body. New arms ending in clawed hands hung from a feathery chest, and he had talons for feet. The head still resembled an owl, but had smaller eyes and a shorter beak.

"That will do," Goku commented.

In a split second dash Goku closed the gap between him and Wan Shi Tong, pulling back a fist and punching the spirit in the beak. The blow sent the spirit flying backward, until he slammed into a wall. Goku flew after the spirit and threw another punch, but missed when Wan Shi Tong ducked. Goku's fist punched a hole in the wall, startling the spirit enough to distract him from Goku swinging his leg. A kick hit the spirit's side and slammed him into a bookshelf, breaking it down and burying him in books.

The spirit got up and out of the pile, then charged at Goku. Wan Shi Tong slammed his shoulder into Goku, knocking him back a few feet. A flurry of punches followed, but Goku was more than fast enough to dodge each one. Goku jammed his knee into the spirit's gut, the resulting pain making him bend over forward. With both fists Goku slammed them into the spirit's back, using enough force to make Wan Shi Tong break through the floor and fall into the next level of the library below.

Goku flew down through the hole in the floor, pulling back a fist to strike again. At the last second Wan Shi Tong swung a leg and hit Goku's side, knocking him down a row of bookshelves. Goku planed his feet on the floor and slid to a stop, then saw Wan Shi Tong dash towards him. The spirit threw a punch at Goku, which met Goku's fist and slammed together with sound of thunder.

"Nice warm up," Goku commented.

"**Warm up?"** Wan Shi Tong muttered.

Before the spirit could see the attack coming Goku punched him in the gut, making Wan Shi Tong gasp for air. Several more hits in the same place knocked the wind out of the spirit, leaving him vulnerable to a punch in the face. The blow hurled Wan Shi Tong across the library and into the far wall, the impact shaking the building hard enough to spill sand through cracks in the outer walls.

Realizing that he had severely underestimated his opponent, Wan Shi Tong abandoned the form he had taken for human martial arts. First he reverted to his default owl form, then doubled in size and grew into a form closer to a vulture. On large wings he flew towards Goku, while extending his sharp talons. When he was close enough Wan Shi Tong slashed with his talons, but Goku jumped out of the way. While Goku was in the air the spirit used a long neck bring his head closer to Goku, clamping down with his beak to swallow Goku whole.

Inside the spirit's beak Goku pushed with his arms and feet, forcing the beak to open. He leaped out and landed on the floor, then jumped back up and slammed a shoulder into Wan Shi Tong's throat. The spirit staggered back a few feet, before Goku slammed both fists into the top of the spirit's head. Wan Shi Tong's head hit the floor with a loud crack sound, and a piece of his beak chipped off.

"**Enough,"** Wan Shi Tong said, reverting to his default form again.

"Already?" Goku asked, crossing his arms while standing in front of the spirit.

"**There is no point in continuing a battle I cannot win,"** Wan Shi Tong reasoned. **"You have earned access to the contents of my library."**

Goku looked around in every direction, seeing all the books it had to offer. But reading was something more suited to Gohan, as Chi-Chi wanted their son to be a scholar. "If it's all the same to you, I'll be leaving now."

"**What?"** Wan Shi Tong said, baffled by Goku's decision. **"Then why did you come here?"**

"I thought I'd find a good fight," Goku admitted. He jumped into the air and slowly flew upward. "No offense, but this place is lame."

Wan Shi Tong watched Goku fly up and out of the library, feeling sorry for any human that might cross him. **"What a strange being."**

_A/N: The owl had that beat down coming.  
_


	6. Hollow Ground

Chapter 6: Hollow Ground

Flying straight east out of the desert Goku continued his exploration of the Earth Kingdom, wondering if there were any other spirits that he could fight. Below him several villages went by, but Goku sensed nothing interesting in them. Beyond them was the Earth Kingdom's southeastern border, where territory once claimed by the Air Nomads began. Though Goku didn't know it, the mountains surrounding the Eastern Air Temple went unclaimed by the Earth Kingdom out of respect for the fallen nation.

Spanning three low mountain peaks, the Eastern Air Temple caught Goku's eye. He could sense that the temple was empty of life, except for one person on the central mountain. Wondering why someone would live all alone in an abandoned temple, Goku flew down to meet the sole inhabitant. Goku descended towards a balcony where an old man with a beard was meditating.

"Hello?" Goku said, setting foot behind the old man.

Startled out of his meditation the old man stood up and turned around, shocked that someone had snuck up on him. He straightened his orange clothes and bowed to Goku. "Hello. I am Guru Pathik."

"I'm Goku," he introduced himself, returning the bow. "Shouldn't there be more people in a place like this?"

"Yes," Pathik answered. "But they were wiped out a hundred years ago."

"Oh…" Goku muttered, not expecting that answer. "So you live here all by yourself?"

Pathik nodded. "Many years ago I had a vision of meeting the Avatar here and helping him on his journey."

"Well, good luck with that," Goku said. He looked at Pathik's orange clothing and wondered if he had more. "Hey Pathik, do you have any spare orange clothes in my size?"

Surprised by the odd question, Pathik blinked twice and then stared at Goku. "Orange is the color of the Air Nomads and their spiritual kin," Pathik explained. "Unless you can command the wind, I cannot give you that color."

Goku clenched his fists and widened his stance, then started powering up. The energy generated a white aura, and created wind that blew from Goku in every direction. The wind hit Pathik and blew him away, his back slamming into a raised ledge around the balcony. Goku relaxed and returned to his base level of power, letting go of the white aura and stopping the wind.

"Making wind isn't hard to do," Goku said, taking a few steps towards Pathik.

Pathik needed a moment to process what he witnessed, believing that only the Avatar State could produce such a wind without a natural storm. But Goku lacked the glowing eyes of the Avatar State, which told Pathik that Goku was something else entirely. "That's not airbending," he said, while getting back on his feet. "Tell me, why do you want orange clothing?"

"It's my favorite color," Goku answered. He gestured to the red shirt he wore over the blue undershirt. "Red's okay, but it's not really for me."

"Huh…" Pathik muttered, scratching his head. Fashion sense was something he hadn't expected. "Well I might be able to find something that fits you, if you don't mind doing a small favor for me."

"Sure, I needed something to do anyway," Goku said. "What do you need?"

"I need someone to help the Avatar, in case I am unable to do it myself," Pathik explained. "He needs to learn how to unlock his chakras, in order to master the Avatar State."

"Sounds easy enough," Goku said. "What are chakras?"

"They are pools of energy that go up the body," Pathik described. "There are seven of them in total, and all must be opened to control the Avatar State."

"Oh… So it's just like the seven dragonballs and having them all summons Shenron," Goku commented.

"What?" Pathik blurted out. Then he shook his head and ignored Goku's comparison. "Never mind, let's focus on the chakras."

"Okay," Goku said.

"The seven chakras are Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Sound, Light, and Thought," Pathik described. He sat down in a meditation pose, and gestured for Goku to do the same. "Each is related to a specific emotion, and is blocked by another. The best way to understand each chakra is to open it yourself."

"And how does that work?" Goku asked, taking the same meditation pose as Pathik.

"Let's start with the Earth chakra, located at the base of the spine," Pathik said. "It deals with survival, and is blocked by fear. Picture what you are most afraid of."

Immediately thoughts of losing his family and friends came to Goku's mind, seeing their faces when he closed his eyes. Visions of those terrible memories appeared to Goku, starting with the memory of Raditz kidnapping Gohan. Next was the memory of finding Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Tien, and Piccolo dead at the hands of Nappa. Following that was the memory of losing his body to Captain Ginyu, and almost losing it for good when Ginyu attempted to take Vegeta's body. Then Frieza killing Vegeta in cold blood appeared, right when Goku had thought Vegeta might be turning away from the side of evil. Finally was the memory of Frieza killing Krillin, the act that had pushed Goku over the edge on Namek.

Pathik saw rage building up in Goku, greater than the fear he had expected. "You're visions are not real," Pathik said. "You must surrender your fears. Let them go."

The advice went unheeded, pure rage continuing to grow in Goku. His body trembled in the rage, and the entire temple started to shake with him. Goku's energy grew with the rage and spread into the environment around him, causing lightning to strike all around the temple. Loose gravel scattered on the balcony started to rise up, and cracks spread across the floor.

A bright flash erupted from Goku's body, sounding like thunder and echoing through the mountains. A golden aura surrounded Goku, and his black hair turned yellow while rising upward. Slowly Goku opened his eyes, which had turned green in the transformation. Staring at one open hand coursing with power, Goku recognized it from his final battle on Namek.

"This is new," Pathik commented, feeling the sheer power Goku was generating. "This is definitely new."

"Not to me," Goku corrected, standing up in front of Pathik. He clenched his fists and widened his stance, while his aura grew brighter. "You might want to hold onto something."

Goku started powering up again, yelling as his aura grew and generated wind in every direction. The wind nearly blew Pathik off the balcony, needing to hold onto the ledge for dear life. The temple shook to its foundations as Goku summoned the full power of the Super Saiyan, as Goku wanted to see what his peak was without the injuries he had on Namek. Cracks spread from Goku's feet across the balcony, his power threatening to tear it apart.

"Stop!" Pathik screamed, barely holding onto the ledge by his fingers.

Once Goku had an idea of what his full power was while transformed he let go of it, reverting to his normal appearance and the golden aura vanished. Then Goku hurried to the ledge and grabbed Pathik's arm, lifting him up and placing him back on the balcony. Pathik patted his chest in an attempt to slow his racing heartbeat, hoping to stop a heart attack before it could start.

"Sorry," Goku apologized. "I got caught up in the moment there."

Pathik stared at Goku, starting to think that having him open his chakras was a big mistake. They hadn't even reached the second chakra and already Goku had more power than the combined might of every other person Pathik had ever met. Opening all seven chakras and accessing the cosmic energy of the universe had the possibility of infinite power for someone already so strong, something that no one man should ever possess.

"You know what, forget that favor I asked," Pathik said. He stretched his limbs and then turned to enter the temple. "I'll see if I have anything orange in your size."

"Thanks," Goku said.

Pathik only needed a few minutes to gather the clothing he possessed, bringing them to the balcony for Goku to examine. He didn't have any pants that fit Goku, but there was one shirt that was an almost perfect match for Goku's old uniform. It lacked the insignias of Master Roshi or King Kai, but that didn't matter to Goku. He threw away the red shirt he was wearing and put on the orange one over the blue undershirt, tucking it into the Earth Rumble belt holding his red pants.

"Intriguing…" Pathik muttered, realizing that Goku was now wearing a piece of clothing from each of the four nations. If he fought on the side of peace and harmony, he would make a fine substitute Avatar. "Have you met the Avatar?"

"Who?" Goku asked.

"Never mind," Pathik said. "Where do you plan on going next?"

"I dunno," Goku answered, shrugging at the same time. "I guess I'll go north, haven't gone that way yet."

"Towards Ba Sing Se," Pathik said.

* * *

_Meanwhile thousands of light-years away…_

At the helm of a disc shaped spaceship, a blue skinned humanoid with yellow hair was at the helm. "My Lord, sensors have just detected a massive burst of power. Its energy signature matches the last one detected on planet Namek before it exploded."

"So the elusive Super Saiyan had reappeared?"

"Yes sir, we have a lead on the monkey that defeated Frieza."

"Triangulate his position and set a course."

"Already working on it, Lord Cooler."


	7. Excessive Force

Chapter 7: Excessive Force

Flying north took Goku back into the Earth Kingdom and towards its capital city, passing by a narrow strip of land that connected two sides of a large river. From high above Goku saw a small group of people walking across to the northern side, as well as a sea serpent swimming away from a gap in the narrow strip of land. Even from a distance Goku recognized the energy of the Blind Bandit, but didn't bother to land and check in on her. The city he sensed beyond the horizon was more interesting, the largest civilization he'd found yet on this planet.

After passing a few hills Goku saw the outer wall of Ba Sing Se appear on the horizon, seemingly stretching from one end of the horizon to the other. Soldiers on the wall scrambled when they saw Goku's approach, not knowing if the flying person was a friend or foe. Goku saw some soldiers panic as he got closer, as they had never attempted to fight anything in the air. For the last dozen yards Goku slowed down his descent, gently landing on the wall near a group of soldiers.

"State your intent!" one soldier demanded, trying to sound intimidating in spite of being terrified.

Wanting a cheap laugh Goku decided to imitate an old film about aliens Bulma had him watch once. "Take me to your leader."

The soldiers took him seriously, as his ability to fly and bypass the city's main defense made Goku a threat not to be taken lightly. They escorted Goku along the wall to a barracks, where the nearest general resided. Inside Goku saw a desk by a window, where a general wearing wide robes was sitting. One soldier whispered into the general's ear to inform him of what he knew Goku could do, prompting the general to get up from his desk and approach Goku.

"Hello, I am General Sung," he introduced himself, bowing to Goku. "I've heard rumors of the flying man from outside Ba Sing Se, but didn't want to believe them."

"Please sir, call me Goku."

"Yes, Goku," Sung said. "What is it that you want?"

"Oh I'm just flying around, looking for some good to do with my time," Goku said. He silently wondered how much time was left for the dragonballs to recharge, or if the revived Namekians still had their set with them.

"Well then I recommend that you leave Ba Sing Se," Sung suggested. "Or at least stay on the ground while you're here. The Dai Li would go nuts if they knew someone like you was in their skies."

"Sounds reasonable," Goku said. Then he looked out the window and saw something big slowly moving towards the wall. "Question, what the heck it that?"

When Goku pointed out the window Sung looked in that direction, seeing a giant drill moving towards Ba Sing Se. "Oh that," Sung commented. "I've already sent a team to deal with it, no need to concern yourself."

Just to check in on his team Sung walked up to a telescope mounted at the window, peering through for a few minutes. He watched the Terra Team begin their assault on the drill, attempting to puncture the machine's outer shell with large spikes of stone. The attack didn't even slow down the drill, as the stone spikes shattered when the moving drill applied pressure. And before the Terra Team could make another attempt a pair of teenage girls emerged from the drill, taking out the entire team with throwing knifes and well placed jabs.

"We're Doomed!" General Sung screamed.

After patiently waiting several minutes for Sung's panic to cease, Goku raised his hand to get Sung's attention. "Why?"

"The Fire Nation is going to invade the city," Sung explained.

"Oh," Goku said. He looked at the drill again, which slowly crept towards the outer wall. "I can take care of that for you."

"Yes please," Sung said.

Goku walked over to the window and jumped out of it, diving towards the ground far below him. At the last second before hitting the bottom Goku pulled up, flying just a few feet above the ground and towards the drill. He circled around the drill to see just how big the machine was up close, as well as sensing that nearly all of the people inside were in the rear half of the machine. He flew back to the wall and then straight up, going past the height of the wall. When he reached three times the height of the wall Goku hovered there, and then he cupped his hands at his right side.

"Ka…"

General Sung stepped outside the barracks on the wall and looked up, seeing Goku but having no idea what he was doing. He could only imagine what kind of devastation he was about to witness, as the flying man had total confidence in taking care of the drill. The general also imagined how the Dai Li would react if they knew about Goku, suspecting that the organization would give him a ticket to Lake Laogai. But for the moment Sung watched the skies, wanting to see what Goku had in mind.

"Me…"

A few miles from the wall and near the Serpent's Pass, Toph Bei Fong noticed something very strange happening. It seemed like she could feel a person's presence far away, beyond the range of her vibration sight. She would normally have dismissed it as nothing, except that she had once been informed that it was possible to sense a person's energy. Her unfocused eyes drifted towards Ba Sing Se, seemingly drawn towards the presence. And yet she seemed to recognize the presence, finding it similar to the person that told her that sensing energy was possible. The only difference was that it was so much bigger.

"Ha…"

In the drill's command tower at the rear end of the machine, Princess Azula saw a bright blue light through the windows. Her friends Mai and Ty Lee returned in time to see the light, neither having any idea what it was. Azula stood up from her seat and walked to the front window to get a better view, seeing the light coming from above Ba Sing Se's wall. She seized a spyglass and gazed at the source of the light, seeing Goku with a ball of shining blue light in his hands. That sight made Azula worry about the imminent future, as the unknown tended to be very dangerous.

"Me…"

Near the outer wall Avatar Aang was flying on his glider, intending to reach the city and search for his missing sky bison Appa. He noticed something disrupting the natural winds around him, which interfered with the air currents he used to fly. Immediately Aang landed on the nearest hill below him, and then he gazed upward. He could tell that the shining blue light above was causing the disruption, as if it were the center of a growing storm.

"HA!"

Goku thrust both hands forward and down towards the drill, unleashing the Kamehameha wave on the machine. A giant beam of blue energy erupted from Goku's hands, which bathed the landscape in blue light to every horizon. In just a few seconds the beam hit the front of the drill, creating a massive explosion on contact. The blast blew hurricane force winds in every direction, obscuring the immediate area and blowing away anyone caught in the shockwave.

Still on the hill Avatar Aang attempted to airbend a shield from the shockwave, lessening the force enough for it to only push him back a few feet. After the shockwave passed Aang saw a mushroom shaped cloud rising from the ground near Ba Sing Se's wall, while hearing debris falling like hail. Aang's jaw dropped at the sight, as it was nothing like anything he had ever seen before. And yet Aang wondered if this was what others felt whenever he was in the Avatar State, dealing with a power beyond his comprehension.

It took several minutes for the mushroom cloud to disperse and the dust to settle, gradually revealing what was left of the drill. Half of it was simply gone, and a crater was in the ground where the front half of the drill used to be. The remaining rear half was still intact, though large cracks had spread through the entire outer shell. Shrapnel from the missing half rained across the land, some large chunks embedding in the outer wall of Ba Sing Se.

With his task complete Goku slowly descended towards the wall, landing beside a very shocked General Sung. "Done," Goku said.

General Sung slowly gulped, glad that the drill was stopped but terrified of the man only a few feet away. Very slowly he turned towards Goku, making a thumbs-up gesture but couldn't stop his hand from shaking in fear. "Thank you," Sung said, trying to appear as grateful as possible.

* * *

Still in the drill's command tower Azula stared at the destruction, wishing that it was all just a dream. Years of construction and so much money spent had been lost in a handful of seconds, ending the possibility of breaching Ba Sing Se's wall before the return of Sozin's Comet. Azula's left eye twitched as she processed the sight in front of her, trying to hold back the rage building up inside. There was only one phrase that Azula knew to sum up her rage, which her friends Mai and Ty Lee had never thought she would ever say.

"What the F#ck!"

_A/N: I doubt that I'll ever have another opportunity to blow up the drill._


	8. Arrival

Chapter 8: Arrival

Having promised not to fly within Ba Sing Se's walls, Goku took a train from the outer wall into the city. Relaxing in the comfort of not having to travel under his own power, Goku took a nap while the train moved through the Agrarian Zone that separated the outer and inner walls. Before he knew it the train passed through a tunnel into the lower ring of Ba Sing Se, stopping at a station for everyone to disembark.

When Goku stepped out of the train there was a strange woman in a yellow uniform staring at him, which Goku ignored and walked past. The strange woman took a few steps to get in Goku's way, giving a clear view of her face with a strange smile on it. Goku gently pushed the woman to the side and kept walking, oblivious to her intent of handling him.

The strange woman got in Goku's way again and introduced herself. "Hello, I am Joo Dee, welcome…"

"That's nice," Goku muttered, pushing Joo Dee out of his way again.

Undeterred in her mission to keep the newcomer under close watch, Joo Dee got back in front of Goku. "I have been given the great honor of showing you around our fair city."

"No thanks," Goku said, picking Joo Dee up by the shoulders and setting her down behind him. He resumed walking away from the station, but Joo Dee was back in front of him in seconds.

"Leaving you all alone would make me a bad host," Joo Dee claimed.

"Ma'am, please stop that," Goku asked, shoving Joo Dee aside one more time. He didn't get two steps before Joo Dee was back in front of him. Before Joo Dee could say another word Goku held up a hand with his palm facing Joo Dee, and used a small burst of energy to propel her away.

Joo Dee's back hit the side of a building and she slumped to the ground, where she could watch Goku walk away without any further interruptions. "Long Feng's not going to like this," she muttered.

Without anyone getting in his way Goku freely explored the city, starting with the lower ring. He got some awkward looks from the locals, but didn't notice them. Several agents of the Dai Li caught Goku's attention, sensing their presence in spite of their attempts to remain hidden. Goku let them follow his movements through the city, wondering if they had witnessed his actions at the outer wall.

During his walk Goku looked at a map of the city that General Sung had provided, which marked a house in the middle ring for him. Free housing was a reward for saving the city from the drill, as well as saving Sung's ego. While the general believed Goku had earned a home in the upper ring, he knew better than to put someone with so much destructive power that close to the Earth King. Unaware of the political motivations behind the free house, Goku followed the map through the city.

After passing through a gate in the wall between rings Goku walked through the middle ring. Following the map took Goku to a small house near several restaurants, which was very appealing for him. Goku opened the front door and walked inside, seeing a living space with basic furniture. He sat down on a couch and relaxed, while wondering if he could find a set of training equipment somewhere in the city.

Several minutes after Goku arrived there was a knock on the door, and Goku got up to answer. When Goku opened the door he met a middle aged man with a receding hairline. "Who are you?"

"I am Long Feng," he introduced himself, giving a small bow. "May I come in?"

"Umm, okay," Goku said, stepping away from the door to let Long Feng in.

Long Feng walked inside and looked around, finding the interior rather bare for someone that earned a fancier home. He made a mental note to correct it later, after his current business was finished. "I trust you're settling in well?"

"Not really," Goku said. "I prefer the countryside."

"That can be arranged," Long Feng offered. "But I'm more interested in hiring your services."

"Services?" Goku muttered.

"I'm well aware of what you've already done for Ba Sing Se," Long Feng said. "Someone like you can become a very wealthy man as a mercenary, one that I am more than interested in hiring."

During Long Feng's speech Goku stopped paying attention, his gaze drifting upward towards something very distant. "Someone's coming," Goku muttered. "Someone powerful."

* * *

Meanwhile, far outside the walls of Ba Sing Se, Princess Azula was riding a mongoose-dragon through the wilderness. Her friends Ty Lee and Mai were beside her on their own mounts, always willing to help. They were scouting the terrain around Ba Sing Se in search of a covert means of penetrating the city, as the direct approach could no longer work. Not when the Earth Kingdom was aligned with a power capable of obliterating the Fire Nation army on a whim.

The only lead so far was a clump of white fur, shed by the Avatar's sky bison. Azula was already devising a plan to use the bison to coerce the Avatar into fighting the threat, as the Avatar State was the only power in this world that could possibly have a chance against the destroyer of the drill. Tracking down the sky bison was a simple matter, following strands of fur left on trees in the forest. Eventually they found the sky bison, along with six Kyoshi Warriors.

"My my you're easy to find," Azula claimed, letting a clump of fur in her hand disperse in the wind. "It's really astounding that my brother hasn't captured you yet."

All at once the Kyoshi warriors drew a war fan and raised a shield. "What do you want with us?" the leader demanded.

"Who are you? The Avatar's fangirls?" Azula asked.

"If you're looking for the Avatar, you're out of luck," Suki claimed. She glanced at her fellow warriors, giving a wink to each of them in turn. This was the perfect opportunity to test a new group technique.

Not in the mood for further delays, Azula jumped off her mount and shot blue fire at the Kyoshi Warriors. In unison the warriors joined their shields and blocked the attack, but the defense gave Ty Lee and Mai time to get off their mounts and attack. The warriors kept their distance from Ty Lee's fists and blocked Mai's knives with their shields, while slowly spreading out around their opponents.

Once the warriors were positioned in a circle around their foes Suki gave the signal, holding her right palm towards Azula and her left hand on right wrist. "Give up yet?" Suki taunted, watching the other warriors assume the same pose.

Azula halted her attacks for a moment, perplexed by the strange gesture. "What, are you going to try firebending?" Azula asked.

"Something like that," Suki answered, as a small orb of light formed in front of her palm.

Similar orbs formed from the palms of the other warriors, aimed at Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai. It would have been mind boggling, if Azula didn't have a possible explanation in mind. "Goku…" she grumbled, suspecting his hand in this development.

All six Kyoshi Warriors fired rapid energy blasts at the same time, converging where Azula and her friends were standing. Azula firebended at every incoming blast she could react to, creating small explosions where the attacks collided. Ty Lee dodged the blasts with the skill of an acrobat, weaving around the attacks and having a little fun doing so. But Mai lacked the agility or firebending that her friends possessed, and after just a few dodged blasts one of them hit her shoulder.

"Ow!" Mai screamed, seeing her shirt with a burn hole at the shoulder and slightly burned skin. More blasts struck her, hitting Mai's legs and back and her other arm.

"Mai!" Ty Lee yelled, seeing her friend in pain. But that distraction slowed her down just long enough for a blast to graze her leg, destroying a patch of clothing and making a light burn. That hit threw off Ty Lee's balance and allowed another blast to hit her, followed by another and another.

Seeing her friends in trouble Azula tried to cover for them with her firebending, shooting down energy blasts all around them. She held them off at first, but one blast slipped through Azula's defense and hit her back. Pain from the hit broke Azula's concentration, shattering her defense and letting more energy blasts through. The barrage overwhelmed Azula and her friends, only stopping when all three of them collapsed.

One Kyoshi Warrior looked at her enemies, seeing them in tattered clothes that covered the essential parts and a bit more. "Should we finish them off?" she asked her leader.

"No," Suki ordered, crossing her arms. "I'm sure the embarrassment is more fitting here."

Without another word, the Kyoshi Warriors left with the sky bison in their care. After a few minutes Azula got back on her feet, furious that she had been caught off guard again. Her friends were had light burns all over but they would live, and they were slowly getting back up. All three of them needed new clothes, as what they now wore was little better than rags.

"What else could go wrong?" Azula muttered, rubbing her temple next to a twitching eye.

As if on cue a shadow appeared and moved past, covering the area Azula stood in for just a second. She looked up and saw a large disk shaped craft in the sky, with alternating orange and blue windows ringing the edges. Azula saw the craft descent into a nearby meadow, extending a dozen small legs to land on. With her friends beside her Azula hurried towards the craft, stopping at the edge of the meadow to observe its landing.

When the craft landed a circular hatch on the top opened, and three humanoid alien beings rose out from it. They wore matching light green armor with a brown right shoulder plate, and were a blue skinned alien with yellow hair, a green muscular alien with black hair, and a red reptilian alien. Each had a device attached to their left ear, which had a glass screen covering the left eye.

Following the aliens into the sky was a fourth one, with purple skin, a tail, and white sections on his chest, legs and forearms that resembled armor. "Find that monkey."

The three aliens saluted to the purple alien. "Yes, Lord Cooler."


	9. Titan Tumble

_A/N: I realize that Goku was out of character early in the last chapter, and for that I apologize. It happened because I really don't like Joo Dee._

_As for this chapter, well... Apologies to Team Four Star._

Chapter 9: Titan Tumble

Goku hurried outside the house in the middle ring of Ba Sing Se, staring towards the southwestern side of the city. In that direction Goku sensed a large power, similar to one he had fought before but slightly different. Three smaller powers were next to the large one, insignificant in comparison. Though the large power was a potential threat to the world that harbored him, Goku couldn't help but smile.

There was finally an opponent on his level.

Behind Goku a confused Long Feng followed him outside. "What is it?" Long Feng asked, genuinely curious about what had Goku's attention.

Ignoring Long Feng's question, Goku jumped and flew straight up. He rose until he was high above the city, and then hovered in the sky. Goku sensed the large power remaining in one place, while the three smaller ones were moving in different directions. To get their attention Goku powered up for a few seconds, giving off a high amount of energy. And sure enough the three smaller powers changed course, heading straight for Goku's position.

In just a few minutes Goku saw three different humanoid aliens flying towards him, each with a scouter device covering their left eye and left ear. A blue skinned alien with blond hair was in front, followed by a green skinned alien with black hair and a red reptilian alien. Goku didn't recognize any of the species, but they seemed like they recognized him.

"So this is the monkey we are looking for," the blue alien said to his comrades.

"Excuse me?" Goku said. "Who are you people?"

Right away the three aliens grouped together and did a fancy pose. "Cooler's Armored Squadron!" they announced together, right before charging at Goku

Ignoring a sense of déjà vu, Goku readied himself to fight all three aliens at once. He easily dodged their punches and kicks, swiftly weaving around them in midair. A punch and a kick sent the reptilian and green aliens flying away, before Goku had to block a jab from the blue alien with his arm. Goku punched the blue alien in the gut, then kicked him away into the green alien.

The reptilian alien fired a beam of energy from its hands at Goku, and he retaliated with his own energy blast from one hand. Goku's attack overwhelmed his opponent's, forcing the alien to get out of the way. But the time it took to dodge was enough for Goku to close in and ram his boots into the alien, hitting hard enough to make the reptile plummet into a street below. The impact left a crater in the street, but the alien quickly got up and flew back into the sky.

With his arms Goku blocked punches from the two aliens still at his altitude, and then shoved them away. Goku fired three energy beams at once, two from his hands and the third from his feet. All three aliens were hit by the attacks, overwhelming them completely and damaging the armor they wore. The green alien was caught in one beam and shot beyond the horizon, the reptilian alien was shot into the ground and knocked out, while the blue alien slipped out of the beam and remained in the sky.

Though injured and alone for the moment, the blue alien did not quit. But right before he could try to attack again he stopped, seeing his boss slowly approaching in the air. "My lord, I have this under control."

The purple and white alien flying towards Goku didn't believe his servant. "Nevertheless, I'll take over from here."

Goku turned towards the newcomer, whose appearance reminded him of an old foe. "Frieza?"

"That is not Frieza," the blue alien corrected. "He is Cooler."

"Cooler than Frieza?" Goku questioned. "You must be ice cold."

"No, that would be my father," Cooler answered.

"What do you want?" Goku demanded.

"Your life will suffice," Cooler answered. In a burst of speed he closed the gap and punched Goku in the face, sending him flying across the sky.

Halting himself in midair Goku raised his arm to block another punch. "Wait! Let's take this somewhere else!"

"Hmm, no," Cooler said. He raised and jammed his knee into Goku's gut, and then slammed both fists into his back. The blow made Goku plummet towards the city below, where civilians saw him fall.

Crashing in the lower ring Goku left a crater in the street, right as a carriage drawn by ostrich-horses was moving down the street. The beasts panicked and made a sharp right turn, making the carriage tip over before the beasts broke free of their harnesses. As the carriage tipped over it burst open, spilling a Joo Dee, Water Tribe siblings, a blind Earth Kingdom girl, and an Air Nomad.

Unaware of the Air Nomad ending up at the crater's edge, Goku stood up in the crater and focused on the battle at hand. "Kaio-Ken!"

The Air Nomad stared at Goku. "Kaio-What?"

A red aura erupted from Goku's body, generating a powerful wind that blew the Air Nomad away. Goku rocketed upward and slammed a fist into Cooler's gut, then followed it with several punches into Cooler's face and chest. But then Cooler whipped his tail into Goku's side, dispersing the red aura and sending him plummeting at an angle into the city's inner wall. Goku hit and broke through the rock and landed in the Agrarian Zone, where he recovered in time to block an incoming punch from Cooler with his arm.

Cooler threw several fast punches at Goku, while the Saiyan blocked each one. Then Cooler swept a leg into Goku's knees, tripping him before whipping his tail into Goku's face. The blow sent Goku flying across the Agrarian Zone, and Cooler flew after him and slammed both fists down into Goku's chest, sending him plummeting into a large lake. Cooler dived into the water after Goku, ramming him into the lakebed. The impact tore through the rock deep enough to reach an underground base, both combatants completely unaware that it belonged to the Dai Li.

Dai Li agents in the base were shocked to see the roof collapse in one of the hallways as Goku and Cooler broke through, followed by a torrent of water from the lake above. Flooding water swept away nearby agents, while Goku kicked Cooler in the chest hard enough to smash him through several stone walls. Cooler recovered from the blow inside a cavernous chamber, where he had to cross his arms to block a fast punch from Goku. But then Goku swung his other fist up into Cooler's gut, knocking the wind out of him and launching Cooler into the roof. Goku flew up and rammed Cooler with his elbow, breaking through the roof and into the lake above. Both combatants burst through the surface of the lake and landed on an island in the center, neither caring about the flooding base below.

There was a pause in the battle, and Cooler chuckled a little. "Yes, I can see why my brother had trouble with you. And yet, I get the feeling that you're not using your full power."

"What makes you say that?" Goku asked.

"Because neither am I," Cooler answered.

Cooler spread his arms out and clenched his fists, summoning power and triggering a transformation. Cooler's muscles grew larger while his chest expanded, his whole body doubling in size. His skull sprouted five spikes that pointed behind him, like some kind of alien crown. A pair of small spikes sprouted from Cooler's back and another pair from the backs of his wrists, and his eyes became pure red.

"**Now you die!"**Cooler declared, while a faceplate slid into place to cover his mouth, deepening his voice.

In a sudden burst of speed Cooler punched Goku in the gut, the blow hurling him across the Agrarian Zone into the city's outer wall. The impact left a crater in the southern wall, which Goku had no time to escape before Cooler flew in and landed an uppercut to Goku's jaw. That sent Goku up the wall and tore apart rock in the way, leaving a long gouge in the wall up to the top. Cooler quickly ascended to intercept Goku and whipped his tail into Goku's back, that strike hurtling Goku to the middle of Ba Sing Se.

Over the palace Goku reoriented himself and hovered in midair, then cupped his hands at his right side. "Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!"

Goku unleashed the Kamehameha wave over Ba Sing Se, aimed directly at Cooler. The bright blue beam shot across the city's sky, outshining the sun above and terrifying the people below. Instead of dodging the attack Cooler flew into it with one fist in front, piercing the blue beam and flying through the energy. Right in front of Goku's hands Cooler popped his upper half out of the beam, and then punched Goku down into the northern half of the middle ring, ignoring the Kamehameha continuing on to hit and vaporize a mountain south of the city.

In the middle ring Goku crashed into a restaurant, demolishing the entire building. Cooler closed in and landed on Goku, slamming his right foot onto Goku's chest and pinning him down. **"Kidney kick," **Cooler said, before kicking Goku's side. **"Kidney kick, kidney kick, kidney kick, and pause…" **Cooler repeated, kicking Goku's side three times and then pausing. **"Palm blast."**

Cooler pulled his foot away and blasted energy from his right palm, point-blank into Goku. The blast consumed nine city blocks, leaving a crater where the buildings had been. When the dust settled Goku stood up in the crater, his shirts destroyed and pants tattered below the knees and his Earth Rumble belt broken. Goku thrust both palms forward and fired his own large energy blast, which hit Cooler and barely singed his skin.

"**Is this really all the Super Saiyan can muster?" **Cooler questioned. He rushed in and punched Goku again, sending him flying into the large wall between middle and upper rings of the city. Cooler flew to intercept Goku, jamming his knee into Goku's chest and pushing Goku's back further into the wall. **"Where is the power that defeated my brother?"**

Goku didn't answer, too busy dealing with the pain.

"**Very well,"** Cooler said. He floated away from Goku, before aiming his palm at the city streets behind him. **"Perhaps some senseless destruction will provide proper motivation?"**

Goku watched in horror at Cooler opened fire on the middle ring, unleashing thousands of moderate energy blasts on the city streets below. The blasts cut a wide swath of destruction across the middle ring, tore down part of the wall between lower and middle rings, and demolished a northern section of the lower ring.

Clenching his fists, Goku's anger rose in the face of so much destruction. Uncountable numbers of people had just perished, simply because the fight was taking place in their city. The wall Goku was stuck in began to tremble, shaking as Goku's power increased with his anger. Cracks spread through the rock, right before a bright flash erupted from Goku's body. In that flash Goku's hair turned yellow and rose upward, while his eyes turned green.

"I won't let you get away with that!" Goku yelled, filled with the power of the Super Saiyan.

* * *

_Meanwhile, thousands of light years away…_

On another world, in another city, surrounded by family and friends, a small green-skinned child in white and brown robes stood in front of a set of large orange balls. The seven ball set pulsed and hummed with energy, seemingly eager to fulfill their function. In his native tongue the child spoke to the balls, while his family and friends watched.

"Come forth, Porunga!"


	10. Wish

Chapter 10: Wish

On the Earth that Goku called home, the sky all over the planet turned darker than the blackest void. In the middle of West City a bright light shone from the backyard of the Capsule Corporation, where the entire Namekian race currently resided. That bright light erupted into the black sky, taking shape and transforming into the giant dragon Porunga.

At first the people of West City panicked, believing that the dragon was going to destroy the city. But it quickly became clear that the dragon's tail end was planted at Capsule Corporation, which made the people assume that it was just another one of Dr. Briefs's crazy experiments. The people moved on with their lives, ignorant of the power Porunga possessed.

As the eternal dragon of Namek, Porunga could grant any three wishes within his power. That included the power to restore the dead to life, but only for one life at a time. There were five people on the agenda to revive, which meant that at least two would have to be left dead while the dragonballs recharged again. The first two wishes were ready, and spoken in the native tongue by the Namekian child Dende.

The first was to restore Goku to life, and the second was to bring him home.

* * *

On another Earth, unaware of the other and vice versa, a bright yellow light shone over Ba Sing Se. That light slowly rose over the northern wall between the city's middle and upper rings, like a miniature sun rising for a new dawn. People in the streets stared in awe at the sight, except for the ones aware of and responding to the devastated northern section of the city.

Team Avatar was in the western part of Ba Sing Se, walking on foot after their carriage was destroyed. All four of them noticed the bright yellow light, even blind Toph was staring at it along with her friends. "Do you guys feel that?" Toph asked, sensing the energy generated with the light.

"I taste that," Sokka answered.

"That doesn't make any sense," Katara complained.

"I feel something," Aang said. He felt like there was power flowing through him, similar to the Avatar State but without the loss of control. Curious, Avatar Aang thrust his palms forward and upward to airbend a small gust of wind. Instead he got a gale so strong that it sucked a cloud of dust from the ground into the wind, shooting it high into the sky.

"Whoa!" Sokka yelled. He looked at Aang, who appeared to be completely normal in spite of the extra powerful airbending. "Where are the glowing eyes and tattoos?"

"I'm not sure," Aang answered.

From down the street a woman in yellow robes named Joo Dee approached the group, who had been left behind when the carriage was destroyed. "You should not have…"

"Can it!" Toph interrupted, using a backhanded motion to earthbend at Joo Dee. Toph had wanted to make a small square column of rock to block Joo Dee's path, but got a house sized block of stone that blocked off the entire street, resulting in Joo Dee running head first into rock. "Uh… Whoops!"

"Since when could you do that?" Sokka asked.

"I wonder…" Katara muttered, ignoring her brother. She walked further down the street to a nearby bridge, which crossed over a river that flowed through the lower ring. Katara pulled her hands back and focused, summoning as much water from the river as she could waterbend. The entire river changed course and flowed up and over the street, coming down right on top of Sokka.

"Uh Oh!" Sokka yelled, throwing his arms forward to shield his face. Suddenly the water in front of Sokka stopped flowing, while the rest harmlessly flowed past him.

Katara couldn't believe her eyes. "Sokka, you're _waterbending!_"

"I am?" Sokka questioned. He moved his arms around and saw the water respond to his motions, just like it would for Katara. "Oh My Aang, I'm waterbending!"

"How is that possible?" Aang asked.

"It must be that huge energy," Toph said, jerking a thumb towards the bright light. "It's the only thing that's changed."

"But what's causing it?" Katara asked.

* * *

Goku was staring down Cooler in the sky above Ba Sing Se, the yellow aura of his Super Saiyan form shining over the city. Cooler stared at the sight of golden hair rising upward and green eyes staring back at him, certain that this was the power that had defeated his brother. Both glared at each other for several minutes, each waiting for the other to move first.

In an instant Goku punched Cooler in the gut, making him double over in pain. Goku followed that attack with an uppercut into Cooler's jaw, then a kick into Cooler's chest, and then grabbed Cooler's tail and threw him towards the ground. Before Cooler could hit the ground Goku chased him down, slamming his feet into Cooler's back and ramming him into the ground. Goku jumped back and blasted energy from his hands at Cooler, making explosions that deepened a crater Cooler was in.

Cooler held off the energy blasts and then jumped out of the crater, getting back in the air and seeing Goku fly upward to follow. Above the city both of them threw a right handed punch at the same time, both strikes hitting each other head on and creating a shockwave that shattered windows in buildings below. Both punched at the same time again, throwing left fists into each other's jaws. The force threw both of them away from each other, but only for a moment before they charged at each other again.

Blow after blow was exchanged between Goku and Cooler, faster than the normal eye could see. People in the streets only saw spherical bursts of power in the sky accompanied by thunder, unable to keep up with the warriors fighting across the sky. Occasional glimpses of one warrior blocking the other's attack could be seen, but only for a second when the two stayed in one place.

A punch to the face sent Cooler plummeting into one of the city's walls, specifically the southern part of the wall between upper and middle rings. Cooler plunged through the entire wall, breaking rock from top to the bottom. Goku fired dozens of yellow energy blasts at Cooler inside the wall, passing through the hole Cooler had made and exploding at the bottom. After a moment of withstanding the barrage Cooler let out an explosive burst of power, shattering a portion of the wall and deflecting further energy blasts.

Cooler shot upwards towards Goku and rammed his head into Goku's, the head-butt tossing Goku higher into the air. Then Cooler grabbed Goku's right boot and spun him around several times, before throwing him towards the western side of the city. Cooler chased after Goku and slammed both fists into Goku's back, making him plummet downward towards the lower ring. A sweeping kick sent Goku towards the Agrarian Zone, crossing over the inner wall between it and the lower ring.

Reorienting himself in midair above the western Agrarian Zone, Goku powered up for an energy attack. Above the lower ring Cooler focused his energy as well, concentrated it in his fists. From both open hands Goku fired a large beam of yellow energy, and at the same time Cooler thrust both fists forward to fire a beam of red energy. The two beams collided above the inner wall, creating a growing sphere of energy that was half yellow and half red. That sphere grew larger and larger as Goku and Cooler kept up their beam attacks, colliding with the wall and gradually consuming it.

Half of the wall's height was gone when Cooler broke away from the attack, letting his half of the energy sphere dissipate and Goku's beam shot through. Cooler flew over the beam and towards Goku, slamming a fist into Goku's face. The blow ceased Goku's beam attack and sent him flying westward, slamming into the outer wall and cratering it. After the blow Cooler flew higher into the air, raising one hand and concentrating all of his power into one attack.

Goku stood up on the wall and looked up to see what Cooler was doing, creating a massive sphere of orange energy. It grew bigger and bigger in seconds, growing to over a mile in diameter. "Don't do it!" Goku yelled. "You'll blow up the whole planet!"

"**That's the idea!" **Cooler yelled back, and then he swung his arm to throw the massive energy sphere.

Goku braced himself for the attack, which appeared to move deceptively slow due to its size. Goku threw both hands forward and focused, letting the sphere hit his palms and push against him. While Goku's body withstood the downward force, the rock he was standing on could not. Goku dropped as the rock wall gave way beneath him, breaking more and more rock as the sphere pushed Goku down. Gradually the sphere consumed the outer wall, only stopping when Goku reached the bottom.

But while Goku fought against the force he felt a strange presence, like something was trying to reach him. And yet it seemed somewhat familiar, recalling a similar presence several months ago. The last time he had felt that presence was back on King Kai's miniature planet in the afterlife, when Shenron had brought him back to life.

"Not Now!"Goku yelled, realizing that he was feeling the presence of an eternal dragon. His friends and family had to be wishing him back home at this moment, which would doom this world if the wish was granted. At maximum power and holding the energy sphere at bay Goku hoped that he could refuse the wish, at least long enough to save this world.

In a growing crater at the bottom of the outer wall Goku finally equalized the force, and starting pushing the sphere back up. He extended his arms forward with the sphere still on his palms, and put everything he had into one last attack. Goku fired the Kamehameha wave, blasting the sphere with a blue energy beam and pushing it towards the heavens. The sphere was so large that Cooler was caught in its path, having to put his hands against the sphere as the Kamehameha pushed it away from the planet.

"**NO!" **Cooler yelled as he was pushed out of the atmosphere, rocketing into the cold void of space. He could not escape the force pushing against him while the blue beam kept firing, and it kept firing for a whole ten minutes. At nearly the speed of light that was long enough for the energy sphere to reach the Sun, plunging into the nuclear inferno and taking Cooler with it.

When he sensed that Cooler was no more Goku ended his beam attack, watching the end of the beam vanish in the Sun's light. Depleted of energy Goku let go of the Super Saiyan form, reverting to his normal appearance. And then he fell backward into the crater, too exhausted to stay on his feet. Goku waited for the eternal dragon to take him away, but it didn't happen.

"Hello… dragon…?" Goku muttered. "Are you there?"

* * *

"**YOUR WISH **_**CANNOT **_**BE GRANTED."**

The booming voice of Porunga echoed to the people below at Capsule Corporation, seemingly understood in every language they knew. The first wish to bring Goku back to life had been refused as well, but due to Goku being still alive. That news had overjoyed Goku's friends and family, glad to hear that Goku had not perished on Namek. But when the second wish had been refused it was a shock to everyone.

"Why?" Dende demanded in the Namekian language.

"**HE DOES NOT WISH TO RETURN AT THIS TIME."**

While everyone else wondered and complained about what could possibly keep Goku away, the Sayian prince Vegeta believed he knew the answer. He believed that Goku was busy training in space, getting even stronger while Vegeta was on Earth sitting around and doing nothing. That was unacceptable, to let Goku continue to surpass him.

Vegeta had been leaning against the dome shaped Capsule Corp building at the time, and immediately started looking for a way to get off the planet. There was a house sized spherical spacecraft parked in the backyard, identical to the spacecraft Goku had used to get to Namek. Vegeta hurried to the ship and entered it, unnoticed by the people still gazing at Porunga. In the center of the ship's interior was a cylindrical gravity generator, and next to one of the walls was a control console. Vegeta had no trouble starting the ship's engines and taking off into space, as the ship's designs had been reverse engineered from Saiyan technology.

Alone in the spaceship Vegeta muttered to himself. "Wherever you are Kakarot, I will find you."


	11. Salvage Rights

_A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates on this story. Real life stuff has been keeping me from working on this. It may be a while before another update._

Chapter 11: Salvage Rights

Azula was still mad over her latest defeat, sick of being caught off guard by unconventional bending. Her clothes had been reduced to the essentials and a few more tattered bits, courtesy of the Kyoshi Warriors. Her friends Mai and Ty Lee were in the same predicament, and it would be very difficult and embarrassing to explain that if they returned to any Fire Nation base.

Fortunately they didn't have to return to civilization right away, having witnessed the arrival of Cooler's spaceship. After seeing the four aliens fly off Azula chose to wait in the forests around the meadow that the ship had landed in, just in case the aliens returned. After an hour there was no sign that the aliens were coming back, and Azula figured that it was worth the risk to investigate the space ship.

There was no door along the sides of the disk shaped spaceship, only a circular hatch on the top. Ty Lee quickly climbed up one of the ship's landing legs and up the side, reaching the top ahead of Azula and Mai. Once Azula climbed on top of another landing leg she jumped upward, firebending from her feet to make her jump high enough to reach the top of the spaceship. Together Azula and Ty Lee reached down and took hold of Mai's arms, pulling her up to the top as well.

"Let's see what's inside," Azula ordered. She walked up to the top hatch first, which was left open after the aliens had flown away. She jumped through the hatch into a brightly lit hallway below, bending her knees to absorb the force of landing on metal. Behind her came Mai and Ty Lee, and all three of them started wandering the ship. They were surprised to find no one inside, apparently the four aliens were all that were needed to operate the ship.

"Shiny," Ty Lee said, trying to look at everything at once.

Mai stopped at a metal door, which didn't have a knob to open it with. Instead there was a pad next to it with a button on it, and when Mai curiously pressed the button it made the door slide into the walls. "Neat," Mai muttered, finding it very difficult to hide her amazement with alien tech.

Inside that room were several control consoles, each covered with various buttons of different shapes and sizes. Mai wandered into the room and looked at the consoles, having no idea what they were for or how to use them. Ty Lee followed her inside and walked up to one of the consoles, compelled by curiosity to find out what they do.

"What does this button do?" Ty Lee pondered, her hand reaching for the controls.

"Ty Lee, don't," Mai said.

Too late, Ty Lee's hand pressed a rectangle button with a square light on one end. The console whirred to life, humming with electrical energy. Next to the button was a clear rectangular pad, which started to glow bright blue. The glow coalesced above the pad, taking on a physical shape. And in a flash the glow transformed into solid matter, which Ty Lee and Mai were surprised to find. Sitting on the pad was a muffin.

"Yes!" Ty Lee shouted, having been hungry since the last fight. She pressed the button two more times, making two more muffins appear on the pad for her friends. Ty Lee took one muffin for herself and bit into it, savoring the taste. "Tastes like blueberry."

"How do you know that isn't poisonous?" Mai asked.

Before Ty Lee could answer the question Azula walked into the room, seeing what Ty Lee was eating. "Where did you get that muffin?" Azula asked.

"Muffin button," Ty Lee answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She picked up one of the other two muffins and offered it to Azula. "Want one?"

"No," Azula answered. She turned back towards the door and gestured for her friends to follow. "Come on, there's more of this ship to explore."

Over the next hour they explored the ship, discovering dozens of rooms filled with alien tech. A few of them appeared to be living quarters, containing strange beds and foreign artifacts. Another room had a few large tanks inside, all of them empty at the moment. One room caught Azula's complete attention, as it appeared to be the spaceship's armory.

"Now this is promising," Azula said. She paced the inside of the room, examining weird chest armors hanging on a wall.

Mai found and opened a cabinet in the corner, finding clothing inside. It was made of a fabric unlike anything she had ever seen before, as it could be stretched in her hands without tearing. "This is some strange stuff," Mai muttered.

"Cool though," Ty Lee added. She grabbed one of the chest armors with both hands and pulled them apart, stretching the armor wide enough to pull over her head.

"One size fits all," Azula said, finding elastic armor very desirable. "Girls, I think it's time for a wardrobe upgrade."

Azula removed one of the chest armors from the wall and claimed a set of elastic clothes, then walked into another room to change outfits. The elastic clothes she took were blue and skintight, covering everything but her hands, feet, head and neck. The armor Azula chose was white with a yellow section on her belly, and had yellow shoulder pads. It was a perfect fit, conforming to all of Azula's curves. And to complete the outfit were a pair of white gloves and boots, made of similar elastic material.

Mai picked a different set of armor and clothing, along with her own room to change. She put on sleeveless black clothes that had short legs, leaving her legs bare below the thighs. The armor Mai chose was black with a brown belly and shoulder pads, and had three brown pads hanging from the waist that reached her knees. Mai completed the outfit with a pair of black boots and fingerless gauntlets.

Ty Lee took another set of armor and clothing, and changed in another room. She put on black clothes with short sleeves and legs, leaving her arms and legs bare below the shoulders and thighs. The armor Ty Lee chose was blue with a yellow belly and shoulder pads, along with three yellow pads hanging from the waist. Ty Lee put on a pair of black boots and large black wristbands, completing her outfit.

Once all three of them were finished changing they returned to the armory. While she liked the armor's comfort, Mai had one complaint. "I can't hide my knives in this."

"Then we'll have to modify the outfit," Azula suggested. "Once we figure out what it's made of."

"I wonder what these are?" Ty Lee wondered aloud, having walked over to a cabinet and opened it. Inside the cabinet were two weapons, both resembling miniature cannons. They were white in color and their open ends were narrower than the closed end, and there were hand grips below the larger ends with squeezable triggers.

"I don't know," Mai said, walking over to the cabinet. She picked up one of the weapons and examined it more closely, putting one hand into the grip of the weapon with its weight resting on her forearm. By accident Mai squeezed the trigger, prompting the weapon to fire a beam of energy from the open narrow end. The shot hit a wall and burned a small hole in the metal, the sight of which made Mai smile. "Oh I am so keeping this."

"Take both of them," Azula ordered. She watched Mai take the second weapon and hold it in her other hand, positioned so that the large parts were on the back of Mai's wrists. "We'll have to reverse engineer those. Just imagine what they'll do for our troops."

"What other goodies do you think this place has?" Ty Lee asked.

"Let's find out," Azula said. She walked over to a box half her size in one corner of the armory, crouching to open a lid on the top. Inside the box were three small devices resting in form fitting mold. They resembled a small box cushioned on one side, with curved metal connecting another side to a square colored glass screen.

"That's weird," Mai commented. "What is it?"

Azula picked up one of the devices and examined it, taking a peek through its blue screen. She found a button on the side opposite of the cushioned side, which made the screen light up. Azula was holding it towards Ty Lee at the moment, and the screen made a yellow outline around her body. Alien symbols appeared next to the outline, though Azula couldn't tell what they meant. "Huh?"

"_Huh?"_

Every head turned towards the open box, where Azula's voice had echoed from the other devices. Curious, Azula spoke again. "Hello?"

"_Hello?"_

"Now that is useful," Mai said. She walked over to the box and picked up another device, which had a red screen. Mai pressed its side button and then walked out of the armory, stopping when she was far enough away that her voice wouldn't reach her friends.

"_Can you hear me now?"_

Mai's voice came out of the device Azula was holding and the third one still in the box. "Good," Azula said, and Mai heard it from the device she held.

"_This is so much better than using messenger hawks."_

"Yes, yes it is," Azula said, thinking about how instant communication over distances would revolutionize warfare. She examined the device again, noticing that Mai's voice had come out of the cushioned side.

"I think it goes on your head," Ty Lee guessed, guessing that the cushioned side went on the ear and the screen over the eye.

"You might be right," Azula said. She placed the device on her left ear, where its curved shape placed the blue screen in front of her left eye. The blue screen made her amber eye look violet to Ty Lee, who thought it looked cool. Azula's fingers found a small knob on the device and turned it, which made the device stick to her head.

At that moment Mai walked back inside the armory, wearing her own device over her left ear and eye. Her device's red screen made her amber eye look like blood, which she didn't notice or care. "You figured that out too," Mai said, seeing Azula wearing her own device.

"Me next," Ty Lee insisted. She grabbed the last device in the box, which had a green screen. Ty Lee put it on the left side of her head, and the green screen made her gray eye look light green. She pressed the device's side button while putting it on, making yellow outlines and alien symbols appear on the screen as Ty Lee looked at Azula and Mai. "I wish we could read this stuff."

Azula pressed her device's side button and looked at her friends, seeing the yellow outlines and symbols. Ten basic symbols repeated before settling in on one pattern, almost like numbers. And for both Mai and Ty Lee the symbols settled on two symbols each. "If I'm guessing this right, it's showing somewhere between ten and ninety-nine for you two."

Ty Lee compared that to what her device showed for Azula. "So… for you it's between one hundred and nine hundred ninety-nine?"

"It better mean over nine hundred," Azula said. Another press of the side button made the outlines and symbols disappear, getting the useless information off the screen.

"Let's see what else this ship has," Mai suggested, seeing nothing else of interest in the armory.

The three girls all walked out of the armory and resumed their exploration of the ship, searching for any other wonders from the stars. Some of the rooms contained various kinds of machinery, the likes of which had yet to be imagined by human minds. They had no idea what they were for or how to operate the machines, making them useless until more intellectual minds could examine them. Eventually the exploration took them back to the ship's roof hatch, their way in and out of the ship.

When they arrived at the hatch Mai noticed one little problem. "So how do we get out?" Mai asked, looking up at the hatch too high up to reach.

Casually Ty Lee wandered to the nearest wall, seeing a control console with nothing else nearby. There was a little red button on it that seemed to attract her attention, compelling Ty Lee to press it. Part of the floor below the hatch moved down and slid to the side, allowing a ladder to slide up from the floor and up to the hatch.

"Never mind," Mai said.

One at a time they climbed up the ladder, getting on top of the ship again. There was still no sign of the four aliens that had flew off, something that Azula was glad to find. But she hadn't been expecting to hear a bird's screech coming from the sky, and she looked up to see a messenger hawk flying by. The hawk was looking down to search for the recipient of the message it carried, and it immediately changed course when it saw Azula.

The hawk landed on the left shoulder pad of Azula's armor, allowing her to remove a scroll from a tube on the hawk's back. "This had better be good news," Azula muttered, unrolling the scroll.

"What does it say?" Ty Lee asked.

Azula reread the scroll several times, doubting that the message was accurate. "The invasion of Ba Sing Se has begun."


	12. From Bad To Worse

Chapter 12: From Bad To Worse

Ba Sing Se was in chaos, as much of the city lay in ruin. Entire districts had been demolished in the lower and middle rings, countless lives lost in the devastation. Many people were helping to find survivors, searching through the rubble for friends and families. Earthbenders across the city helped clear away the rubble, most missing the increased power they had possessed when the bright yellow light had been in the sky. Few had possessed an opportunity to use that power anyway, having been captivated by the light show during the city-wide battle.

Sokka had been disappointed when the light was gone, as his newfound waterbending had left with it. "Easy come, easy go," Sokka muttered. Regardless of his bending or lack thereof Sokka didn't let that dominate his thoughts, at least not until he could understand what caused it.

Toph's feet were invaluable when they arrived at the devastated part of the lower ring, able to search entire city blocks in seconds with her vibration sight. "Over there!" Toph shouted, pointing at a pile of rubble that used to be a wooden building.

Working together Aang and Sokka cleared away broken wooden boards from the pile, revealing a damaged stone floor. Aang earthbended an opening through the floor, and he found a little boy and girl hiding in a cellar. "They're alive," Aang said, and then used earthbending to raise the cellar's floor to bring the children up to the surface.

Katara walked up to the children and knelt beside them, bending water to her hands. She saw numerous cuts and bruises on their skin, caused by falling rock during the destruction. "You're going to be okay," Katara said, using her water to heal the children's injuries.

"I'm not quite sure about that," Sokka muttered. He was facing the wall between the lower and middle rings, seeing that an entire section of the wall had been destroyed. The next wall beyond looked intact, but only for the part that he could see. And he could only see that wall because much of the northern middle ring had also been demolished.

"We'll worry about that later," Aang insisted, seeing the same gap in the wall but caring more about finding survivors. "Toph, do you see any more?"

"Not nearby," Toph said, shaking her head. She started running deeper into the devastated area, earthbending a smooth trail as she moved to protect her feet. She found more survivors as she moved, and she pointed them out for the others. "Over there!"

Amidst the rubble there was a structure slightly less damaged, resembling a collapsed wooden building instead of a building blown to bits. As Aang and Sokka ran towards it to help they saw some of the broken boards move, being shoved away by someone underneath. As the boards were pushed away the first of a dozen survivors climbed out, surprising the would-be rescuers.

"Zuko?" Aang blurted out.

Coughing as he climbed out of the rubble, Zuko was just as surprised to see Aang. He didn't care that Aang had used his real name instead of the alias Lee, as his cover was already blown wide open. When the barrage had demolished part of the city Zuko had been forced to firebend, using fireblasts to detonate energy projectiles before they could hit the apartment building. That firebending had saved his life and the lives of people in the building at the time. The building had collapsed anyway from shockwaves, but the people inside had been spared from explosive deaths.

"Oh great, it's you," Zuko muttered. He turned back towards the hole in the rubble he'd dug himself out of, reaching back into it to help a survivor climb out.

"What are you doing in Ba Sing Se?" Sokka asked.

"Trying to avoid getting me and my uncle killed," Zuko answered. He crouched and lifted more broken boards away from the ground, allowing more survivors to surface. Among them was Iroh, who was out cold after the collapse and being dragged out by a teenage girl. "But that appears to be more difficult than I imagined."

"At least he's breathing," Toph said, hearing Iroh's weak breaths.

"He's lived through worse," Zuko said. But then he looked around him, seeing the city's devastation. "On second thought, maybe he hasn't."

"Not even your old man could do this," Sokka said, gesturing to the destruction. "We're dealing with something much bigger than the war."

"And we still haven't found Appa," Aang muttered.

As if on cue there was a loud roar coming from above, getting everyone's attention. Sokka looked upward with the others and saw a sky bison coming in for a landing. "Well that's convenient," Sokka said.

When Appa landed six Kyoshi Warriors leapt off the sky bison's back, and Suki walked ahead of her comrades. "Miss us?" Suki asked.

"Appa!" Aang yelled, running past Suki and leaping onto Appa's head.

"Well I sure missed you," Sokka said, walking up to Suki. "But how in the world did you find Appa?"

"We had to fight off three Fire Nation girls to get him," Suki answered. "Her blue fire was no match for us."

"Blue fire?" Zuko interrupted. "_You_ beat Azula?"

"Let me guess, she's your ex-girlfriend?" Suki asked.

"Worse, she's my sister," Zuko corrected.

"Oh," Suki said. She quickly changed the subject, turning her attention back to Sokka. "Anyway, we have a much bigger problem right now."

"Like what?" Sokka asked.

"Like a huge gap in the outer wall," Suki answered. "And the Fire Nation army is heading right for it."

* * *

Goku was lying at the bottom of a large crater within the gap in the outer wall, trying to rest after his battle with Cooler. The fight had left his body bruised and covered in cuts, as well as draining his reserves of energy. Goku's orange and blue shirts had been destroyed and his Earth Rumble belt was broken, while his red pants were in tatters below the knees. And yet Goku still had his original blue belt, wristbands, and black boots, somehow surviving all this time.

All he wanted right now was to take a nap and recover, but increasing noise prevented him from doing so. Goku's head was pointed away from the city and towards the noise, so he tipped his head back to see tanks driving into the crater. Marching beside the tanks were legions of Fire Nation troops, taking advantage of the breach in Ba Sing Se's wall.

"No rest for the weary," Goku muttered. He slowly rose to his feet, facing the army heading for the city. Goku knew he had to stop the advancing army, if only because it was the result of his fight that allowed it to invade the city. "Guess I'd better clean up my mess."

The tanks accelerated as they drove into the crater, their drivers wanting the additional speed to make it up the other side. The tank in the lead sped up even more when its driver noticed Goku, planning to run him over without a second thought. Goku braced his footing and grabbed the tank right before impact, forcing it to stop while the force broke the ground beneath Goku's feet. Tanks directly behind crashed into the lead one, making a pileup at the bottom of the crater.

Soldiers escorting the tanks halted when the pileup started, now seeing Goku as a threat. Dozens of them hurried around the tanks to get a better view of Goku, so that they could all punch fireballs at him. All of the fireballs converged at the bottom of the crater, appearing to consume Goku in fire. But then a burst of power blew away the fire, revealing Goku generating a strong wind with his energy.

Goku jumped backward and away from the pileup of tanks, landing on the side of the crater for a better viewpoint. He aimed one palm forward and released some energy, directing it at the tanks and propelling them away. Soldiers filled the space the tanks used to be in, and they all firebended at Goku. With both hands aimed at the soldiers Goku used more energy to propel them away, clearing the space within the crater.

But then Goku noticed that he was breathing heavily, already getting exhausted from fighting again after the earlier battle. "I don't have much left," he muttered, wishing that he had a senzu bean right about now.

More tanks and soldiers entered the crater in the broken wall, replacing the ones that Goku had already dealt with. But these ones had more than Goku to deal with, as there were Earth Kingdom soldiers on the wall approaching the gap from both directions. The Earth Kingdom soldiers started dropping boulders on the Fire Nation soldiers marching through the gap, slowing down the invaders' progress.

With another jump Goku got out of the crater and into the air, hovering at a quarter the height of the wall. He aimed his palms down and started firing small energy blasts, each hitting a tank and exploding to destroy the vehicles. But the soldiers kept on coming, marching through the crater dozens at a time. They all kept firebending at Goku, trying to overwhelm him through sheer numbers.

Goku dropped out of the air and landed cityside of the crater, seeing the first of the soldiers reaching his side of it. He held one hand forward to focus his energy into a barrier, continuously blocking all of the firebending aimed at him. With his other hand Goku fired more bursts of energy through his barrier and towards the soldiers, propelling them back half a dozen at a time. And yet the soldiers still advanced, pushing forward in spite of Goku's power.

"I need more power," Goku muttered, feeling weaker than the time he first fought his brother. He let go of his energy barrier and jumped into the air, reaching the height of the wall and beyond the range of ground based firebending. Then he focused on the anger he'd felt against Frieza and Cooler, drawing on that emotion to access the power of transformation.

A white aura shone around Goku, gradually shifting to a bright yellow. His hair drifted upward, shifting between black and yellow hues. His eyes changed to green for seconds at a time, shifting between normal and transformed colors. And then in a bright flash of light the changes took hold, finishing the transformation into the Super Saiyan.

The soldiers on the ground halted at the sight, like a miniature sun to their eyes. Nearly all bending stopped in that moment, Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom alike mesmerized by the light. But in that moment one soldier had been punching the air to firebend at Goku, too late for him to stop. And instead of getting a normal fireball like he wanted, he got a thick stream of fire that seared its way up to Goku's altitude.

"Whoa!" Goku yelled, aiming one palm at the fire, putting it out with a blast of energy.

When the fire was extinguished the soldier that had created it stared at his fist, wondering where the increased power had come from. He repeated the same punching move to firebend, and got another thick stream of fire that reached Goku. That attack was blocked as well, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that firebending was supercharged, and every firebender present had seen it. Then other firebenders found their bending supercharged as well, and they immediately seized the upper hand against the Earth Kingdom.

Chaos erupted around the gap in the wall, a result of every firebender exploiting the unexpected increase in power. One firebender in the crater experimented by bending with his feet, creating plumes of flame with enough thrust to launch him into the air and on top of the wall. Dozens saw that feat and duplicated it, launching entire squads of firebenders onto the wall and surprising the Earth Kingdom soldiers. For a few short seconds the firebenders overwhelmed the Earth Kingdom soldiers, getting a foothold on both sides of the gap. Then the Earth Kingdom soldiers started fighting back, discovering that earthbending was supercharged as well when they hurled house sized blocks of stone.

"This is not good," Goku muttered, seeing fire spread like a wave from the gap in the wall.

The Fire Nation soldiers on the ground stopped attacking Goku, instead focusing their efforts on seizing territory. Firebenders that weren't fighting at the moment looked up at Goku's yellow aura with reverence, making hand gestures meant to honor Fire Spirits. They realized that the yellow aura was supercharging firebending and they interpreted it as a gift from the sun spirit Agni, even though it was supercharging earthbending as well. Believing that the spirits were on their side the Fire Nation soldiers fought ferociously against the Earth Kingdom soldiers, taking more and more of the outer wall and flooding the Agrarian Zone with fire.

Goku drifted backward until he was halfway across the Agrarian Zone, well ahead of the advancing army. There he aimed both palms at the army and fired yellow energy blasts, hitting the ground to make explosions that scattered the soldiers and hitting tanks to blow them up. The attacks halted the army's advance as the soldiers tried to reorganize, as well as fend off an Earth Kingdom counterattack. But as Goku fired more energy blasts he noticed his aura dimming, even his Super Saiyan energy reserves were running low.

Breathing heavily and slowly drifting downward, Goku knew he was going to run out of energy soon. He had to create a more permanent means of slowing down the invading army, something that would last longer than he could fight. Goku aimed his hands at the outer wall and fired yellow energy beams, hitting unoccupied sections behind Earth Kingdom soldiers. The beams exploded on impact and destroyed a third of the height and just as long, limiting the amount of wall that the Fire Nation could take. And then Goku flew to the north, cupping his hands at his side.

"Ka… Me… Ha… Me… Ha!"

Goku was near the northern side of the outer wall when he thrust his hands down towards the ground, and at the same time he reversed direction and flew south, firing the Kamehameha straight down while moving. The massive blue beam cut into the ground as he flew by, creating a long and deep trench across the Agrarian Zone. As the beam passed in front of the soldiers they saw a new fifty foot wide obstacle in their way, too wide and too deep to cross over. That trench cut across most of the western side of the Agrarian Zone before the Kamehameha shrank and ceased firing, draining the last of Goku's remaining energy.

When the beam stopped firing Goku fell out of the sky, lacking the energy to remain in the air. His yellow aura vanished and his hair turned black, reverting to his normal appearance. Momentum from his flight took him to the southwestern side of the outer wall, slamming into the top with his whole body. He bounced back up while leaving a crater behind, and fell right on the outer edge of the wall and broke through it. Outside the wall Goku fell all the way down to the ground, hitting rock at the bottom and cratering it. There Goku lost consciousness, completely drained of energy.

And without the Super Saiyan in the sky all bending reverted to normal, and the invasion continued onward.


	13. Against Impossible Odds

Chapter 13: Against Impossible Odds

Throughout Ba Sing Se the city guard and the Dai Li were mobilizing in the streets, hastily preparing the city for battle. Every able bodied earthbender was drafted for the fight against the Fire Nation, though most were assigned to repairing the damage to Ba Sing Se's many walls. There was a wide gap in the wall between lower and middle rings on the northern side, a smaller gap between middle and upper rings on the southern side, and the upper half of the wall between the lower ring and the Agrarian Zone was gone on the western side. Adding to the city's woes was a breach in the outer wall on the western side, and the Fire Nation was already pouring through it into the Agrarian Zone.

In the devastated northern lower ring Avatar Aang was just about to get into the action, now that his sky bison Appa had been returned to him by unexpected friends. Suki and six of her fellow Kyoshi Warriors were there to help, some to fight soldiers and some to rescue civilians. Meanwhile Toph was still searching for more survivors by running deeper into the lower ring, using her vibration sight to see anyone still alive in the rubble. Survivors that had already been rescued were being tended to by Zuko and Katara, the former focusing on his uncle while the latter healed everyone else.

Ready to get moving Aang sat on Appa's head, holding onto a new set of reins that the Kyoshi Warriors had improvised earlier. "Alright, who's coming with?" Aang asked, knowing that Appa couldn't carry everyone there at once.

"Give me a sec," Katara said, finishing up her healing of a survivor's bruised leg. She stood up and bended her water into a pouch, and then helped the survivor get up. Katara checked for anyone else in need of immediate medical attention, but found everyone in stable condition. "I'll be right there."

Sokka tossed his things onto Appa's back and then looked around, seeing Toph heading further away. "Toph, are you coming!?"

"You guys go ahead!" Toph yelled from afar, not stopping her search. "I'll catch up when I'm done!"

"Okay then," Sokka said, climbing into Appa's back, wondering what happened to the saddle. Behind him Suki and Katara climbed on as well, along with two of the six Kyoshi Warriors that Suki had brought with her to Ba Sing Se.

"Let's move," Suki insisted.

"Appa yip yip," Aang commanded, and the sky bison took flight.

Just when Appa was out of sight there was an explosion within the devastated area, coming from near the eastern edge. The explosion consumed a city block's worth of rubble and left a crater in its place, and from within that crater a red reptilian alien rose upward. The alien's armor was broken into pieces that were still falling off his skin, but he still had his scouter device intact and attached to his ear. He landed on the ground just outside the crater, standing upright and reaching for his scouter.

The reptilian alien pressed a button on the scouter, opening a communications channel. "Guys, where are you at?" he said aloud. He pressed the button a few more times to make sure it was working. "Salza, Doore, come in."

From above and to the east a green skinned alien wearing broken armor flew in, his own scouter destroyed and thus having to search with his eyes. "There you are!" he shouted, changing course and landing next to the reptilian alien. "Neiz, have you heard from Salza?"

Neiz shook his scaly head. "I was out since that monkey foot blasted me." He looked around the area, surveying the mass destruction. "And I missed Lord Cooler's fun."

"I only saw the end from a distance," Doore admitted. He pointed a finger straight up. "Someone got shot into this system's star."

"That's not Cooler's style," Neiz said. Sudden worry struck his face. "You don't think… Cooler _lost_?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Doore insisted. He looked around the area for any clues to who won the fight, and he saw the people in the devastated lower ring. "Hey look, locals. Let's ask them what happened."

Neiz and Doore kicked off the ground and started flying a dozen feet above the ground, heading straight towards the person closest to them. That person happened to Zuko, and the two stopped in midair above him. "Hey you," Neiz said, pointing down at Zuko. "Tell us who won the fight here, now."

Though everyone else first thought the aliens were some kind of spirits, Zuko didn't jump to that conclusion so quickly. Unlike the others Zuko had witnessed the Ocean Spirit's power at the North Pole, and these flying thugs were not even remotely similar. "Why don't you come down here and make me?"

Doore scowled at Zuko's response, and aimed one palm towards a random group of locals. Without a second thought Doore shot a single energy blast from his palm, hitting one of the Kyoshi Warriors and exploding on contact. The explosion vaporized the warrior along with another next to her, as well as a pair of survivors that had been next to them at the time. All that remained in their place was a crater, surrounded by people screaming in horror.

"Now then," Doore started, pulling back his hand. "Do we have to ask again?"

Zuko gulped and took a step back, while everyone else took three. He wished that Aang hadn't left so soon, if only to have the Avatar State go off and deal with this threat. "Look, sir, if I can call you sir, I don't have a clue to what's been going on today. We were just minding our own business when, out of nowhere, it becomes doomsday for this city. If there was a fight, it was way too big for us mere mortals to comprehend, let alone tell you who won it."

Slowly Doore descended to the ground, while Neiz stayed in the air. Doore landed right in front of Zuko, yet still seemed higher than him. "Don't talk like that to me," Doore threatened, aiming one hand at someone to Zuko's right.

A glance to the right shot horror through Zuko, seeing that Doore's hand was aimed at Iroh. Zuko knew that he had to stop the alien now, and he had to do it fast. A lethal blow would be needed to end the threat, as anything less would allow the alien to retaliate with extreme force. But to get a lethal blow Zuko knew he'd have to surprise the alien, which neither firebending nor his swords could accomplish. There was one option available, though it was still untested.

_I hope I got this right, _Zuko thought, desperately wishing that his new technique would work. He'd only seen it done once, and had little understanding of how the spiky haired man did it. But Zuko remembered the physical motion and the words used, which were enough to give Zuko something to work with. Over the months since witnessing the technique Zuko had attempted to recreate it in his spare time, using firebending principles to fill in the parts he didn't know.

Swiftly Zuko raised both hands up to his head, spreading out his fingers while turning his palms towards his ears. At the same time Zuko focused his firebending, directing his chi to his face as if to breathe fire. But instead of breathing fire Zuko kept his firebending energy in his face, building it up in the split second before closing his eyes and saying the magic words.

"Solar Flare!"

Bright light erupted from Zuko's face, outshining the sun and with a slight red tint. Doore was instantly blinded by the light at point blank range, stumbling backwards with his eyes in extreme pain. Everyone else on the ground had to shield their eyes from the light, but even then it still stung badly. In the air Neiz had to hold up an arm to protect himself, but still couldn't see what was happening below him. And yet at the source of the light Zuko was unaffected by it, leaving him as the only person with clear vision when the light faded.

Without skipping a beat Zuko drew both of his swords and swung with all his strength, aiming straight for Doore's neck. While the blades cleaved through the air they turned red hot and burst into flames, the two blades becoming one huge sword of fire. Zuko's aim was perfect, swords and fire hitting Doore's throat.

On impact the flames kept on going, appearing to slash through Doore's neck and keep going. But the swords within the flames stopped moving forward, instead dragging the entire length of the blades against unmoving flesh. When the flames went out Doore's neck was covered in soot, but otherwise appeared normal. Zuko's swords were rattling from the impact while he held them to one side, and his arms were completely numb. Cracks spread from the edges through the length of Zuko's swords, before they shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces.

Zuko stared at the remains of his swords, still holding onto the hilts. "That could have gone better," Zuko said, thinking that his life was about to be cut very short.

Doore grumbled incoherent words while his vision cleared, very annoyed about Zuko's attempt to kill him. "Why you little…" Doore muttered, raising one hand to strike Zuko.

Suddenly Doore froze in place, not moving or saying anything more. Weak gasps escaped his mouth, while a thin red line spread across his throat. The red line split apart and blood spewed out, along with all the breath in Doore's lungs. A bloody gurgle was the last that Doore could get out his mouth, before he collapsed face first into the dirt.

"DOORE!" Neiz screamed, dropping out of the air to reach his comrade. When he landed he crouched next to Doore, but it was very clear that he was dead. Strong or weak, a slit throat is a slit throat, lethal in most species discovered. Neiz stood up and faced Zuko. "I'm gonna kill you, you little brat!"

"Crap, forgot about him," Zuko muttered to himself. The numb feeling in his arms was fading away, allowing him to let go and drop the sword hilts. And then he started taking steps backward to distance himself from Neiz, even though he figured it wouldn't do him any good.

Neiz spread out both arms and focused his energy, making purple spheres of light appear in his hands. They grew larger until they covered his forearms, and began to spark and crackle like electricity. Even though Neiz's scouter told him that Zuko had a small power level, Neiz put everything he had into charging his attack. It wasn't because he thought the scouter was being deceived, but because Neiz wanted to retaliate with as much overkill as possible.

"Now Die!" Neiz shouted. He threw both hands forward to shoot all of his energy, unleashing what appeared to be a thick bolt of purple lightning.

One desperate act was all Zuko had to stay alive, gambling with another technique that he'd never had a chance to use before. He stuck out one hand with the first two fingers pointing into the incoming attack, while the other hand traced two fingers along the arm and down to his stomach. Mental focus with that movement created a chi pathway through Zuko's body, just like his uncle had instructed him to do against lightning.

The energy attack hit Zuko's arm, and yet did not harm him. Instead it was pulled into Zuko's flesh through his hand, traveling down the arm along the chi path leading to his stomach. There the energy pooled within his gut, filling Zuko with power beyond his wildest dreams, and threatening to tear his body apart. Once all of the energy from the attack was in his body Zuko thrust his other arm towards Neiz, redirecting the energy up the arm to his fingertips, shooting the large purple lightning attack back at the source.

Seeing his own attack shot back at him took Neiz by surprise, freezing him in place too long to avoid the counterattack. The purple lightning struck Neiz in the chest, penetrating his damaged armor and searing into his organs. Uncontrolled energy spread from the chest into all of Neiz's body, frying flesh and sizzling senses. In a few seconds the energy in the attack was gone, leaving only a black and smoking body behind, a corpse that collapsed next to the one that Zuko had already made.

Zuko stared at the corpses in front of him, while his arms were trembling from channeling so much power. "Mother of Agni… that actually _worked!_"

Witnesses to Zuko's victory stared at him and the alien corpses, all silent while taking in what just happened. Then all at once they cheered for him, survivors and Kyoshi Warriors alike. The fact that Zuko was a firebender didn't matter, as he'd just saved their lives from the alien threat. But they were not the only ones that noticed what Zuko had done.

A contingent of Dai Li agents had been about to cross through the devastated area when the two aliens had appeared, and stopped in their tracks during the encounter with Zuko. Among the agents was their leader Long Feng, en route to a safe house during the crisis. Seeing the two aliens with his own eyes convinced Long Feng to take a detour, and seeing them fall made him even more interested in the victor.

Zuko saw the Dai Li agents approach, and heard everyone else silence themselves when they saw Long Feng. Even after all they had survived through and witnessed firsthand, ingrained fear of the city's secret police still controlled their actions. As a recent arrival to Ba Sing Se, Zuko lacked that ingrained fear. "What do you want?" Zuko asked, crossing his arms and glaring at Long Feng.

"I want you," Long Feng answered, pointing at Zuko like some recruitment poster. "To teach that reflection trick of yours to every soldier and Dai Li agent you possibly can."

"Why? Are more of them around?" Zuko asked, gesturing to the alien corpses.

"Yes," Long Feng answered, thinking of a certain spiky haired individual with unnatural power. "Yes there is."

_A/N: If it worked for Piccolo, it will work for Zuko._


	14. Divide and Conquer

Chapter 14: Divide and Conquer

Above the western lower ring Appa was flying across the city, carrying Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, and two more Kyoshi Warriors. They were high enough to see past the inner wall and view the Fire Nation army pouring through the gap in the outer wall, spreading across the fertile lands that kept the city fed. Suki and her warriors all did a double-take when they saw a large trench cutting through the Agrarian Zone, a feature that hadn't been there when they had brought Appa back to Aang. That trench was all that kept the Fire Nation from marching straight to the inner wall, which was also damaged by an earlier battle. Half of that wall's height was gone in one western section, which earthbenders were hastily trying to repair before the Fire Nation could reach that weak spot.

Leaning over Appa's side, Katara had difficulty believing how quickly things had gone bad for the city. "How are we going to stop this?"

"I don't know," Aang admitted, watching the inner wall pass underneath Appa. He turned to the only person who might have an idea. "Sokka, you're the idea guy, please tell us you've thought of something."

"Give me a minute," Sokka asked. He spent that minute observing the Fire Nation with the bird's eye view Appa provided. He saw that the Fire Nation had captured two sections of the outer wall next to the wide gap, but those forces couldn't advance past large missing chunks in the wall. Ground forces were split in two to get around both sides of the large trench, both approaching choke points between the trench's ends and the outer wall. "There," Sokka said, pointing towards the trench's southern end.

"Why there?" Suki asked.

"We can slow half of them down there, buy the Earth Kingdom some time," Sokka answered. He saw earthbenders on the outer wall throwing boulders down onto the Fire Nation army, slowing them down on the way to the choke point. "At the very least some Avatar action should hold them off for a while."

"Um… guys?" one Kyoshi Warrior said. She pointed towards the southern sky, seeing something that shouldn't be there. "What is that?"

Sokka looked in the pointed direction, seeing a strange blue skinned and yellow haired person flying away from the city. "I say we ignore it. It's leaving, so it's not our problem."

"We have enough problems already," Suki added.

"Yeah," Aang agreed. He guided Appa towards the southern end of the trench, but stayed at high altitude during the flight.

As they got closer to the trench Sokka observed the area again, looking for anything he might have missed that could be important. His eye was drawn to the trench again and again, wondering what kind of power could have created it. A glance to the south led his gaze to the outer wall, where he found a crater on the top and a missing chunk on the outer edge. The damaged parts on the wall were perfectly lined up with the trench, which Sokka didn't believe was a coincidence.

"Guys, a little detour please," Sokka said. He pointed to the outer wall. "Drop me off there."

"Why?" Katara asked.

"I have a hunch," Sokka answered.

"Seriously?" Aang questioned.

"Just do it," Sokka insisted.

"Fine," Aang conceded, pulling on Appa's reins to make him turn further south. During the flight Aang reached into his pocket and took out a bison shaped whistle, which he tossed over to Sokka. "Here, just in case you get lost down there."

When Appa was nearly at the wall Sokka crouched on Appa's side, positioning himself to jump off. "Don't bother landing," Sokka insisted. A few seconds later Appa few above the wall, close enough for Sokka to jump off Appa, and when he hit the wall he rolled to absorb the force of his landing.

When she saw that her brother was safely on the wall, Katara gave the all-clear to Aang. "We're good to go."

"Dive!" Aang yelled to Appa.

Immediately Appa dove straight down towards the ground, dive-bombing at the Fire Nation army approaching the end of the trench. Just before reaching the bottom Appa pulled up his flight path, plowing through Fire Nation troops as he started flying a few feet off the ground. Meanwhile Aang and Katara jumped off Appa as he flew next to the ground, Aang using his glider to land safely, and Katara bending all of her water into pile of soft snow to catch her fall.

Once they were on the ground Aang and Katara went on the offensive, attacking the Fire Nation troops with the elements at their disposal. Aang swung his staff to airbend and used his legs to earthbend, hurling wind and stone at the enemy. Katara recycled the snow she's created and bended it into a waterwhip, swinging it back and forth to strike down more troops. Their attacks further disrupted the enemy advance after Appa plowed through it, scattering the troops before they could squeeze through the choke point.

Appa landed right in the middle of the Fire Nation front lines, each of his six feet stomping its own troop into the ground. Suki and her warriors leaped off Appa and attacked, swinging their fans into the heads of Fire Nation troops. After the initial surprise the troops backed away, letting their firebenders attack with fireballs hurled from outside weapons range. But that tactic wouldn't work against these particular nonbenders.

With their backs to Appa's body to protect their flanks, Suki and the warriors each aimed their palms at the firebenders. Right when they saw firebending coming their way they focused energy through their palms, shooting small energy blasts at the firebenders. The energy blasts pierced through the flames and struck firebenders on the other side, bringing them down and surprising the rest in shock. Suki took advantage of the enemy's surprise and opened fire with her warriors, blasting down a few dozen troops and firebenders before the enemy backed off.

Also surprised by the attack were Aang and Katara, and they quickly struck down the troops they were fighting so they could get to Suki. "Since when could you do that?" Katara asked as she ran up to Suki.

"And what was that? Aang asked. He took a second to blow away some approaching troops. "I've never seen that kind of bending before."

"That's because it isn't bending," Suki answered. She ran around Appa and fired more energy blasts at the troops on that side of the sky bison. "We picked up this trick a while back."

"Why didn't-" Katara paused to throw an ice spike at a firebender. "-you use that in the Serpent's Pass?"

The rumble of a tank caught their attention, prompting Suki and the warriors to blast it. But their energy blasts only scorched the tank's thick metal, doing nothing to stop it. "Same reason it isn't working on that."

Aang stomped the ground to earthbend a narrow crevice in the ground, breaking apart terrain in a line towards the tank. The right side treads were caught in the crevice and the tank tipped over, lifting the left treads off the ground while the right treads hung inside the crevice. But then another tank behind it ran right into the back of the first one, hitting hard enough to push the first tank out of the crevice and continue forward.

"Anyone got any ideas?" Aang asked.

"Aim for the drivers?" Katara suggested.

"Works for me," Suki said, taking an extra moment to aim her palm at the tank's windshield. One blast hit and shattered glass, and a second blast took out the driver. The tank veered to its left, right into the trench and falling into the abyss.

Suddenly Suki fell to one knee, breathing heavily while sweat made her face paint run. Katara hurried to Suki's side, followed by the other Kyoshi Warriors. "What's wrong?" Katara asked.

"Got real tired, real fast," Suki answered. She saw one of the warriors shoot several energy blasts at a pair of approaching tanks and taking out the drivers, and then that warrior collapsed like Suki just did. "We've never used that trick so much so fast before."

"Figures it came with a downside," Aang said. He saw a dozen more tanks driving towards them, too many to deal with at once. Then he around and saw the end of the trench, getting inspired by it. "Everyone back on Appa, I have an idea."

While Katara helped Suki and the warriors climb on top Appa, Aang ran to the end of the trench. He stood a few feet away from the end and slammed both fists into the ground, using earthbending to break apart rock and dirt in front of him. Ground five feet wide and twenty feet deep broke apart and fell into the abyss, lengthening the trench by another few feet. Aang back up a few feet and struck the ground again, repeating the earthbending and making the trench even longer.

As Appa flew higher and way from the advancing tanks Katara saw what Aang was doing, narrowing the choke point between the trench and the wall. Only a dozen feet of space remained when the tanks reached it, forcing them to drive within striking distance of earthbenders dropping boulders from the wall. But only half of the approaching tanks were crushed under boulders, the rest reaching the choke point and preparing to run over Aang.

"Look out!" Katara yelled.

Aang heard the warning and saw the tanks about to reach him. He jumped into the air and came back down, slamming both fists dead center between the trench and the wall. All of the ground that remained in between broke apart in the earthbending, connecting the trench with the wall and creating an impassible obstacle. At first Aang fell with the broken ground into the abyss, before flying out of the trench on his glider.

In just a few short moments Aang flew up to Appa and landed on the bison's back, folding his glider back into a staff. "That should stop them here."

"But not over there," Katara said, pointing to the northern end of the trench.

Even from a distance they could all see fires burning at the opposite side of the Agrarian Zone, and that they were burning on the eastern side of the northern choke point. The Fire Nation had seized that end of the trench while Aang closed off the southern one, and were holding it against Earth Kingdom counter attacks. And from the northern chokepoint the Fire Nation army was moving southward, towards the half-destroyed part of the western inner wall, where it would be easiest to break through into the lower ring.

"I hope Sokka's hunch is paying off," Aang said. "Cause we're going to need it."

* * *

_A few minutes earlier…_

On the southern outer wall Sokka hoped his hunch was correct, even as he ran to the small crater on top of the wall. Earthbenders up and down the wall ignored Sokka as he ran by, as they were too busy dropping boulders on Fire Nation army below. No one stopped Sokka from running up to the crater and standing between it and the inside edge of the wall, the most ideal spot to get the right perspective of the area.

Looking back and forth Sokka confirmed the observation he made from the air, in that the trench, crater, and broken outer edge were all in perfect alignment. Something had to have been moving above the trench and fell onto the wall, bounced off it, and then broke through the outer edge. Whatever caused that had to have fallen down the outer side of the wall, and it might just still be at the bottom.

"Excuse me!" Sokka yelled to the nearest earthbender, trying to get his attention. "I could really use a favor right now!"

One earthbender stopped and faced Sokka. "We're busy here!" he yelled back, but also wondering why a teenager was on the wall to begin with. "Get off the wall if you know what's good for you!"

"That's actually what I want to do," Sokka said. He pointed to the outer side of the wall. "I just need to get down that side."

The earthbender sighed before running to the outer edge, where he used a single sweep of his arm to earthbend a steep ramp into the side of the wall to the left. "You're not getting back up this way," he warned, having made the ramp too steep and too smooth to climb.

Sokka looked over the edge of the wall, seeing plenty of open space to signal someone in the air. "Oh I'll probably be flying back," he said, fingering the bison whistle Aang gave him.

"Yeah, right," the earthbender said, before getting back to work fighting the enemy.

Slowly Sokka put himself on the top of the steep ramp, holding onto the wall while getting into position. When he let go Sokka slid down the ramp at a frightening pace, the side of the wall on his left quickly becoming blurred by the speed. Before accelerating too fast Sokka pressed his left arm against the wall and his right arm and feet against the ramp, making enough drag to slow and control his descent. Friction started to burn his arms and damage the soles of his shoes, but it was necessary to reach the bottom of the wall safely.

When he reached the bottom Sokka rolled onto the ground, tumbling in the dirt without breaking any bones. He stood up and flexed his rub-burned arms, wishing that he had some water to sooth the pain. "Never doing that again," Sokka muttered to himself.

After a glance upward to see just how far east the ramp had taken him, Sokka started running back towards the west. It took him several minutes to reach the part of the wall that had the top of the ramp, where he knew the aligned damages were without needing to see them. When he arrived to that spot Sokka looked around for anything out of the ordinary, for anything that might have fallen from the wall.

"There!" Sokka yelled, seeing a crater in the ground that had been too small to notice from high up. He ran as quickly as he could to the crater, and was surprised by what he found in it. There was a half-naked spiky-haired man at the bottom, somehow not pulverized by falling so far and hitting the ground so hard.

The spiky haired man stirred and groaned, slowly regaining consciousness. "What happened?" he muttered.

"Don't try to move," Sokka insisted, seeing that the stranger had taken quite a beating. But then Sokka noticed something familiar, remembering the spiky hair from somewhere. "Hey wait a second. You're that guy that beat Toph in the Earth Rumble."

"My name's Goku," he said, barely getting the words out. He pushed against the ground and lifted up his chest, but then collapsed.

"You need medical attention," Sokka said, dearly wishing that he'd brought his sister along.

"The ship," Goku muttered. "I have to find the ship."

"What ship?" Sokka asked.

Though he didn't know where it was, Goku knew that his last real opponent had to have used a ship to reach this planet. And if it was anything like Frieza's ship, it would have a healing tank inside. "I have to find Cooler's ship."


End file.
